KY man who fatally stabbed mom and daughter sentenced to life in prison
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- Joshua Cottrell pleaded guilty murder and tampering with physical evidence.
- Cottrell was sentenced to a life in prison and a five-year term for evidence tampering.
- Victims Kayla Blake and her teenage daughter, Kennedi McWhorter, were stabbed to death.
A Kentucky man who stabbed a mother and daughter to death in September 2025 pleaded guilty Tuesday, April 28, and was sentenced to life in prison according to court records.
Joshua Cottrell, 44, pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and tampering with physical evidence. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the murder charges and a concurrent five-year prison sentence for the evidence tampering charge.
Cottrell stabbed Kayla Blake, 37, and her 13-year-old daughter, Kennedi McWhorter, Sept. 13, 2025, at a home on Spring Street in Morehead. They were found dead after a coworker went to check on Blake because she hadn’t shown up to work.
Investigators did not indicate a potential motive for the stabbing. According to court documents, Blake was stabbed in the head in a bedroom and Kennedi was stabbed in the throat across the hall.
Investigators spoke to neighbors and confirmed Cottrell was at the home the day before the bodies were found, according to court documents. Cottrell allegedly had blood on his clothes when authorities found him at a hospital in the Paducah area.
Cottrell previously spent time in prison after he was convicted of manslaughter in the death of 36-year-old Richie Phillips in 2005. Cottrell told the jury he killed Phillips in self-defense after Phillips made unwanted sexual advances toward him at an Elizabethtown motel room and a fight broke out.
A jury deliberated nearly nine hours before finding Cottrell guilty of second-degree manslaughter, theft by unlawful taking of more than $300 and tampering with physical evidence in that case. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison but was released after 2 1/2 after receiving parole.
