DNA results confirm body found is missing 4-year-old Serenity McKinney. Mother, boyfriend charged with murder.

The Bullitt County Coroner’s Office has confirmed a body found in February is that of a four-year-old girl missing from Shelby County since December 2020.

Bullitt County Coroner Dave Billings said DNA results from the Kentucky State Police crime lab confirmed the body is that of Serenity McKinney. The body was found near the 1300 block of Skyview Road in West Point, a densely wooded area near the Jefferson/Bullitt County line.

McKinney’s mother, 21-year-old Catherine “Abby” McKinney, and her boyfriend, 26-year-old Dakota Hill, were arrested in Colby, Kansas, on February 6, 2022, a week after relatives reported to police that they had not seen Serenity since Christmas Eve 2020.

McKinney and Hill have been charged with the girl’s murder. The pair has also been charged with abuse of a corpse.

Serenity’s body has been transported to the state Medical Examiner’s Office to determine her cause of death.

The investigation is being led by Kentucky State Police Post 4 detectives.