Mother, stepfather indicted for murder of 10-year-old KY boy Jayden Spicer

The stepfather of 10-year-old Jayden Spicer and the boy’s mother, Felicia Gross, were indicted on murder charges Monday, the commonwealth’s attorney announced.

Felicia Gross, 33, of Jackson was indicted for charges of murder, falsely reporting an incident, evidence tampering, abuse of a corpse and two counts of evidence tampering.

She was originally charged with second-degree manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and falsely reporting an incident.

Her 41-year-old husband, Josh Gross, was indicted with charges of complicity to commit murder, complicity to falsely report an incident, tampering with physical evidence, abuse of a corpse and two counts of complicity to witness tampering.

King announced the direct indictment Tuesday, just moments before a preliminary hearing was to begin for Felicia Gross. Both Felicia and Josh Gross are being held at the Kentucky River Regional Jail on a $1 million bond each.

The body of Jayden Spicer was found near Canoe Road in Breathitt County on Aug. 12 in a heavily wooded area. His family reported him missing from his home on Panbowl Branch Road in the Jackson community Aug. 6

“Tuesday night, I told you all that Jayden was in good hands,” King said to reporters. “Today is the next phase in that movement with the foundation of the investigative work and another week of evolution in our investigation.”

King said Kentucky State Police Detective Nathan Roark presented the case to a grand jury Monday morning. In an official statement on Facebook King was very complimentary of state police’s investigation.

“Bad investigations are short and stationary. Officers go in, draw an inference, make a rash decision, close it and never look back. Good investigations are fluid in that they evolve with the benefit of hard work and time. This one is the latter,” King said in the statement.

Gross previously admitted to police she gave Jayden sleeping medication and buried his body. She initially told police she thought he had a medical emergency. She also admitted to “coaching” two of the boy’s siblings before they were interviewed by police, according to court documents.

Three Breathitt County residents — all mothers — were present at Monday’s hearing.

Ronica Neace, Savannah Pratt and Leona Prater said the indictment against Josh Gross was something everyone had been considering.

“There was never a thought that she could do that herself,” Pratt said to reporters.

But what continues to baffle the women is how a mother could harm her child and allow the community to believe he was missing for days.

“There could’ve been so many people in this community that would have loved Jayden and given him the life that he deserved,” Pratt said.

The three women said for there to be justice for Jaden, his parents should spend the rest of their lives in prison with no opportunity for parole.

Jayden’s visitation is 10 a.m. Thursday at the Breathitt Funeral Home. His funeral is to begin at 2 p.m.

This story was originally published August 18, 2025 at 11:54 AM.

Taylor Six

Lexington Herald-Leader

Taylor Six is the criminal justice reporter at the Herald-Leader. She was born and raised in Lexington attending Lafayette High School. She graduated from Eastern Kentucky University in 2018 with a degree in journalism. She previously worked as the government reporter for the Richmond Register.