KY woman killed by husband in murder-suicide ran for office, pushed for women in politics
The woman killed in a double murder-suicide in Lincoln County Thursday was a former candidate for elected office and an advocate for more women to get involved in Kentucky politics.
When Heather Baldwin ran for Lincoln County judge-executive in 2022, she hoped her campaign would inspire more young people and women to make their own bids for public office.
At just 27, she was the youngest woman to file for the role, the most important elected official in most Kentucky counties.
Late Thursday, Baldwin, 30, was shot and killed at a home in the Lincoln County community of Crab Orchard by her husband, Spencer Baldwin, 30. Baldwin also shot and killed another man, Dennis Perry, before killing himself.
Heather Baldwin was one of several women interviewed as part of a Herald-Leader report on the dearth of women in certain local elected office positions, including judge-executive, in 2022 when she was running.
“Unfortunately, for a large part of the state, it’s still a boys club mentality,” she told the Herald-Leader then. “I get questions all the time about ‘If you win, who’s going to take care of your children?’
“I think that, for a large part, people still want to hold onto that notion of childcare and child rearing falls to the mother,” she said.
Baldwin dropped out of the race shortly before the May primary, but she continued to serve as chair of the Lincoln County Democratic Party.
In an extended March 2022 video interview with the Herald-Leader, Baldwin talked through the trials of running for the county’s highest office as a young mother of three.
At the time, only four women were county judge-executives out of the state’s 120 slots; though Baldwin did not join their ranks, that number has since grown to seven.
“I’m very lucky to have a partner that is supportive of me and who does his share of raising our children,” Baldwin said. “Anyone that has ever balanced a budget, run a household, helped run a business, anything of that nature, you’re equipped… with how to do this job.”
Court records show Heather Baldwin had filed for divorce on Feb. 18, just nine days before her husband killed her.
According to state police, Stephen Baldwin was pronounced dead at the scene Thursday night. Heather Baldwin and Perry were both pronounced dead at a nearby hospital in Danville later.
Over her years as Lincoln County Democratic party chair, Baldwin became connected to other active politicos in the region.
Geoff Sebesta, a political activist from Clark County, said he became good friends with her about six years ago.
“Heather lived a life filled with life,” Sebesta said. “She was good to the people around her, she was just good to be around — smart, perceptive, witty, insightful, dedicated and brave. She loved her kids and her kids love her.
“I’ll never understand how it ended like this. But I’ll sure miss her,” he added.
Baldwin was a client of Rockcastle County stylist Sara Barnett Williams. Williams had different political views than Baldwin, but she remembered her fondly in a Facebook post.
“Heather Baldwin and I shared major political differences but I always admired that we could talk about what we believe in without arguing,” Williams wrote. “I always admired that any time I had to reschedule she was always patient because she was a mother of three children also. I am in shock and heartbroken.”
Lincoln County Judge-Executive J. Woods Adams III won election the year Baldwin initially ran. He said he never met her, but he shared his condolences Friday.
“It’s a terrible situation. I hate it for everybody, especially the kids,” Adams said.
This story was originally published February 28, 2025 at 5:07 PM.
