Officials charged a mother who reportedly begged for help in finding her missing 10-year-old son with manslaughter after investigators found his body buried.
Jayden Spicer’s body was found buried in a “heavily wooded area” in Breathitt County, Kentucky, around 3:00 p.m. Tuesday, Kentucky State Police (KSP) trooper Matt Gayheart said in a press briefing Tuesday night. The Breathitt County Coroner’s Office declared Jayden, 10, deceased and officials were preparing to take his body to the state Medical Examiner’s Office in Frankfort for an autopsy, according to a press release from the trooper.
“Jayden’s mother, Felicia Gross, 33, of Jackson, was taken into custody and transported to Kentucky River Regional Jail,” Gayheart told reporters. “She is charged with manslaughter of the second degree, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and falsely reporting an incident.”
A look at the scene on Canoe Road on Tuesday, August 12, where troopers would discover the body of 10-year-old Jayden Spicer. It’s around 19 miles from his Panbowl Branch home, where he was said to have disappeared overnight nearly a week ago. https://t.co/kdwDFbGEfq pic.twitter.com/kStxeybnUV
— FOX 56 News (WDKY) (@FOX56News) August 12, 2025
Gross gave a written statement to the media on Aug. 7 begging people to come forward with information, according to Fox 56. (RELATED: REPORT: Missing Teen Texted ‘Help Me’ Before He Disappeared)
“We love Jayden and we want him safe at home please if anybody see [sic] my son Jayden Spicer please report it to the Jackson police department,” Gross wrote, according to a photo of a paper shared by the KSP. “Thank you we love him very much please do the right thing call the police pray for us and my son Jayden thank you.”
Investigators suspect Gross wrote this while aware of her son’s fate.
Gross told authorities her son went missing the night of Aug. 5, according to a citation obtained by LEX 18 News. The mother allegedly confessed during an interview Tuesday that she gave Jayden sleeping medication that led to a “medical emergency” that triggered his death.
Gross said she left her son’s body in a wooded area, prompting a search by authorities, the citation alleged.
The boy’s two aunts were reportedly skeptical about the information relating to the missing persons case before Jayden’s body was discovered, WKYT reported.
“There’s some stuff that just doesn’t add up in the case,” Chyy Salyers alleged, then referenced fellow aunt Samantha Bunty. “As two aunts and mothers, we question a lot of the information ourselves.”
“This incident has now transitioned from a missing person investigation into an active and ongoing criminal investigation. With that, we must advise that specific details regarding this investigation cannot be released at this time. It is our top priority to protect the integrity of this investigation to seek justice for Jayden,” Gayheart told the press.
“While this is not the outcome that we had hoped for, we certainly are grateful that we were able to bring him out of the woods today,” Commonwealth’s Attorney for the 39th Judicial Circuit Miranda King said Tuesday.