3 facing charges including incest, abuse, concealing birth in NKY infant's death

Three people have been arrested in connection to the death of an infant in Pendleton County last year, the Falmouth Police Department said.

Police arrested the baby's father, Allen Newkirk, Billy Shepperd and the infant's mom Kimberly Shepperd Wednesday.

On March 1, 2023, Kimberly went to Harrison Memorial Hospital saying she suffered a miscarriage, according to police. She did not have the baby with her.

"The nursing staff had some suspicions of whether or not it may have been a viable birth," Falmouth Police Chief Marty Hart said.

After an evaluation, the staff believed there was a possibility that the woman gave birth and that the infant was left behind.

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When officers arrived at a vacant home in the 500 block of Montjoy Street, they discovered an unresponsive newborn in a bed underneath a blanket.

"They were estimating it weighed a little more than 6 pounds and it was unresponsive and not breathing, so it was transported to the hospital," Hart said.

The baby boy was pronounced dead upon arrival, investigators said.

According to police documents, Kimberly Shepperd told police she got pregnant with her uncle, Allen Newkirk, and hid the pregnancy. After giving birth, Kimberly's grandfather, Billy Shepperd, took her to the hospital, the documents say.

The documents say Kimberly told Shepperd the baby was dead. Shepperd didn't check on the baby or contact anyone, according to the documents.

The three have been charged with the following:

• Allen Newkirk — Incest; in jail with a $20,000 bond
• Billy Shepperd — Abuse of corpse; out on a $5,000 bond
• Kimberly Shepperd — Incest, abuse of corpse, concealing birth; out on a $20,000 bond

The Falmouth Police Department will be holding a press conference Tuesday at 2 p.m. to discuss the arrests.

An earlier version of this story erroneously reported they were arrested Tuesday.

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