Police in Kentucky made a sixth arrest this month. The case started as a sex trafficking probe. It turned into a murder case too.
A 22-year-old woman now faces charges. Police say she helped hide a killing. The man who died was set to testify against his own brother.
Corbin Police arrested Hailey Gilbert on Friday, September 11. Gilbert is 22 and lives in Corbin, Kentucky. She faces two charges.
The first charge is complicity to commit murder. That means helping someone else kill a person. The second charge is tampering with evidence. That means messing with proof from a crime. The U.S. Marshals Service helped make the arrest.
The case began with Darrell Carnahan. Carnahan is 69 and lives in Loyall, in Harlan County. Deputies arrested him back in July.
Carnahan faces many charges. They include human trafficking, rape, and sodomy. He is also charged with running an organized crime group. Records say he ran prostitution with two or more people. That means he got money when others traded sex for pay. He faces drug charges too.
Carnahan's own brother was Bobby Smith. Smith was set to testify against Carnahan. Deputies found Smith dead in Harlan County. This happened in the last week of August. Police have not said how he died.
Court records say Smith held power of attorney for Carnahan. That means Smith handled Carnahan's money and bills. Smith had stopped sending Carnahan jail money. That money paid for Carnahan's bills and snacks behind bars.
Police say Carnahan called three people from jail. He called Tonya Monroe, Cody Pace, and Landon Pace. Police say he asked them to find witnesses. He wanted the witnesses to change their stories.
Four people were arrested soon after Smith died. Tonya Monroe is 49. She faces murder and evidence tampering charges. She also faces witness tampering charges. Records list theft and fraud charges too. Those tie to a stolen debit card.
Cody Pace is 31. He and Landon Pace face the same murder and tampering charges as Monroe. Starr Halcomb is 48. She is charged with tampering with a witness.
Police say Monroe and the Pace brothers moved into Carnahan's house. This happened after Carnahan went to jail. Jail text messages show the three gained money after Smith died. They also gained a place to live. Deputies say Monroe and the Pace brothers burned evidence too. They say a hidden phone held deleted drug messages.
A sixth person is Joseph Jackson. Jackson is 31 and lives in Bell County. His charges match Carnahan's case. Jackson faces human trafficking tied to paid sex. He also faces an organized crime charge.
Gilbert was first booked into the Knox County jail. Records show she later moved to the Bell County jail. The Bell County Sheriff's Department is running the case. Detective Hunter Luttrell has led it from the start.
A U.S. Marshals task force helped make some of the arrests. Local police helped too, including Corbin Police. Jails in Bell, Harlan, Knox, and Laurel held the group.
South Texas families watch cases like this one. Trafficking rings often cross state lines. They can run for years. Cases like this need a witness willing to speak up. That is often the only way to prove them. What happened to Bobby Smith shows the real risk witnesses can face.
The case stays open. Deputies have not said if more arrests are coming. Carnahan stays in the Bell County jail. The other defendants sit in jails in Bell, Harlan, Knox, and Laurel counties.
Everyone is presumed innocent until proved otherwise.
