Remains found near Lexington park were lawyer who sued KY cabinet
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Fayette coroner requests dental records to confirm identity of woman found Oct. 25.
- Remains discovered in Masterson Station Park showed extensive dental restoration.
- Coroner urges dental professionals to contact office; information handled confidentially.
Skeletal remains found last weekend near Masterson Station Park in Lexington were a longtime lawyer who previously sued a Kentucky cabinet after she said she was fired in retaliation for reporting her coworkers were running a “sex toy” business out of the office.
The Fayette County Coroner’s Office on Wednesday said the remains found Oct. 25 in a wooded area of Masterson Station Park, near Leestown Road, were Jacqueline Kerry Heyman, 65.
Heyman was a longtime Kentucky lawyer who settled a lawsuit against the Kentucky Public Protection Cabinet in 2017.
Heyman worked as an attorney and was associate counsel to the chief justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court and deputy director/executive counsel of the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts.
She also worked for the state Public Protection Cabinet, where she managed, supervised and evaluated employees in the Insurance Legal Division for former Gov. Steve Beshear’s administration.
In 2015, she sued the cabinet after she said she was fired for reporting employees who were using state time and resources to operate an online sex toy business. The lawsuit claimed the termination violated the Kentucky Whistleblower Act.
The employees were allowed to operate their online business in their free time, but Heyman reported their activity to her supervisor when they ran the business on state facilities, on state computers and used state mailing to mail products in and out of the office.
Heyman later disclosed the activity with the executive director/general counsel of the Executive Branch Ethics Commission and added that her supervisor was mismanaging the division after not taking action on her complaints. She was fired days after the meeting with the commission.
Heyman had worked for the cabinet for only four months at the time of her firing, according to the Louisville Courier Journal. She was not provided a reason for her termination because she had not completed a six-month probation period.
The lawsuit went to trial in 2017 but was settled before its conclusion. The Courier Journal reported the cabinet agreed to pay Heyman $225,000 in the settlement but denied any liability in the lawsuit.
Heyman attended Transylvania University, according to the New York Times. She came from a successful family, as her father founded a strip metal mill in Pennsylvania and her grandfather founded the Heyman Manufacturing Company, of which Heyman’s father was a former chairman of the board.
Heyman was charged in recent years with several alcohol-related misdemeanors and traffic offenses, according to court records. Heyman was most recently charged with DUI and operating on a suspended license in June, and she was sentenced to 14 days in jail and fined $350.
It was Heyman’s second time being convicted of DUI, according to court records. The address on her most recent arrest citation was 101 General Delivery, indicating she was homeless.
This story was originally published November 1, 2025 at 3:42 PM.
