Trial to begin for teacher charged with soliciting teen boy to murder husband
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- A Kentucky teacher faces trial for abuse and murder solicitation involving a teen.
- Investigators found illicit photos and letters detailing sexual contact with the teen.
- The detention center is under scrutiny for poor conditions and safety risks.
An Adair County jury on Wednesday is scheduled to hear opening statements in the trial of a teacher who is charged with having an illegal sexual relationship with a teen boy in a state-run juvenile detention center and soliciting him to kill her husband.
Kentucky State Police arrested 27-year-old Elena Kathleen Bardin on April 2.
Bardin is charged with three counts of first-degree sexual abuse, three counts of first-degree unlawful transaction with a minor, solicitation to commit murder and distribution of obscene material to a minor.
Bardin’s defense attorney, Steven Romines of Louisville, did not return a call seeking comment this week.
The Adair Regional Juvenile Detention Center, where the incidents allegedly took place, is possibly the most troubled facility run by the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice, which is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for possible civil rights violations of youths in state custody.
Youths at the Adair County facility have refused to leave their cells this year, saying they fear they will be attacked. The detention center flunked an annual inspection in May, as state officials cited its filthy conditions, broken equipment and youths languishing in cells for extended periods.
In late March, during a search of a teen boy’s cell, staff found nude and scantily clad photos of Bardin and letters between her and the boy that suggested a sexual relationship, according to a May 12 investigative report the Herald-Leader obtained from the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet under the Kentucky Open Records Act.
In the letters, Bardin wrote colorfully about herself and the boy — identified in public records only as “M.L.” — secretly meeting in the detention center to kiss and inappropriately touch each other, according to the report. Records do not include the boy’s age.
Sexual contact between the two was confirmed on multiple dates from Jan. 3 through March 14 of this year, prosecutors said in a Sept. 4 court filing.
Recounting the details of one illicit rendezvous to the boy in a letter, Bardin added: “We can’t make that a habit because, you know, risky business,” according to the report.
Bardin, who worked at the detention center for seven months, was fired March 27. The case was referred to law enforcement.
Bardin declined to speak with internal investigators about their findings, they wrote in their report.
The boy told investigators “Bardin started telling him that she loved him and spoke about divorcing her husband,” they wrote in their report. He “then stated Bardin had asked him in a letter to have someone kill her husband. (He) stated he believes she asked him because she is aware of his current charges (murder).”
Several of Bardin’s colleagues told investigators they had grown concerned because they noticed how attached Bardin was becoming to the boy.
Bardin acted flirtatiously with the boy, twirling her hair, showing him favoritism and visiting him even when she wasn’t teaching, Correctional Sgt. Jessica Black told investigators, according to their report. Black said Bardin might have sneaked the photos and letters into the detention center inside of schoolbooks, which were not searched at the security checkpoints.
Elena Bardin’s husband, 49-year-old Michael Paul Bardin, filed for divorce from her on May 7 in Adair Circuit Court after six years of marriage. He’s seeking sole custody of their 5-year-old daughter.
