Joshua Cottrell has pleaded guilty to murdering his girlfriend and her daughter in Morehead, Kentucky, receiving a life sentence without parole. The 44-year-old changed his plea this week after the bodies of Kayla Danielle Blake and Kennedi Grace McWhorter were discovered in September 2025. He also admitted to tampering with physical evidence.
On September 19, 2025, a co-worker visited the home of 37-year-old Kayla Danielle Blake on South Spring Street in Morehead after she failed to show up for work. First responders found Blake and her 13-year-old daughter, Kennedi Grace McWhorter, dead inside. Blake had been stabbed in the head in a bedroom and suffered blunt force trauma, while Kennedi's throat was cut across the hall, according to court records and the Rowan County Coroner's Office. Cottrell, Blake's boyfriend who lived with her, had been seen at the home the previous day by neighbors, per investigators. Authorities located him over 300 miles away in a Paducah hospital, where he had blood on his clothes. Cottrell initially pleaded not guilty but entered guilty pleas to two counts of murder and tampering with evidence this week, leading to his life sentence without parole. Friends and family of the victims attended the hearing. Lona Kiser, a relative, said, 'I feel like he's begging for his life just like they were begging for their life as he was murdering them,' according to WKYT. Blake worked as a nurse and was remembered as a devoted mother, while Kennedi excelled in school and played softball passionately, their obituaries state. No motive has been publicly disclosed by investigators.