With a change of venue motion now withdrawn from the table, defense attorney Bill Deatherage and Commonwealth’s Attorney Carrie Ovey-Wiggins instead used Monday afternoon’s Trigg County Circuit Court appearance with Judge Natalie White to further unfurl potential motive and new evidence in the case of Landon Stinson.
He’s a Trigg County man charged with the 2021 Cerulean Road double murder of familial victims Sue Faris and Matthew Blakeley. And to Deatherage, his client’s alleged drug use at the time of the murders — though relatively well-documented — doesn’t confirm a reason to kill.
As such, he inquired Kentucky State Police Sgt. David Dick about the connection, seeing as he was the lead investigative agent at the scene — and made himself present in Los Angeles, California, for questioning prior to Stinson’s extradition back to Trigg and Christian counties.
Dick told the court that Stinson admitted to going to the Faris home on the day of the crimes to help complete a joint drug transaction with Blakeley. Later in the 2021 investigation, Dick noted KSP found broken scales with cocaine-positive residue and a broken cell phone along a tree-line near Stinson’s duplex in Julien.
Dick also confirmed that testimony presented from Stinson’s mother, Rhonda Neighbors, and ex-girlfriend, Taylor Creed, last November also gave enough detail for serious drug and murder charges, and the burden of proof accompanying them.
Ovey-Wiggins also stated that Stinson’s alleged drug usage is “directly intertwined” to the deaths of Blakeley and Faris, and that his first-degree, first-offense possession charge of an unspecified controlled substance is warranted.
Dick further specified that in those text messages, an unnamed dealer from Hopkinsville texted with Blakeley that “cocaine had arrived” after Stinson’s initial pickup of marijuana, and Blakeley replied “not to worry about it.”
Kathy Faris — niece to Sue, aunt to Blakeley — also posted more than 20 minutes of testimony Monday, in regards to a letter sent to the Commonwealth’s office dated July 12, 2023, and recently presented to the defense.
In it, she detailed how she came into possession of Blakeley’s Toyota truck following his murder. Once released by KSP, it went to Blakeley’s wife — Bobbie Jo Overby, now living in Missouri — whose family didn’t have the parking space for the vehicle.
Faris said they kept the vehicle for nearly two years, starting it occasionally and once or twice filling it with gas. She and the family “couldn’t bear” cleaning it of Blakeley’s possessions, which up until mid-July still remained inside the truck.
However, payments on it fell delinquent, and before Toyota needed to reclaim it, it had to be detailed.
It’s here, Faris testified, that bagged marijuana — likely belonging to Blakeley — was located in a passenger seat backflap.
Dick confirmed KSP would be reclaiming the marijuana Monday afternoon, following the hearing.
Faris said she and the family, as they cleaned out Sue and Blakeley possessions, also presented KSP with drug paraphernalia from the home and from an outbuilding on the property.
Dick said a room Stinson resided in at the Faris house had multiple empty cans of Dr. Pepper, “the defendant’s drink of choice,” as well as empty baggies with white residue that tested positive for cocaine.
Much more remains on the table before a jury is selected. Deatherage and his team said they were “mostly satisfied” with the amount of discovery available, but asked White for a discovery deadline. Ovey-Wiggins, meanwhile, said a lab report surrounding some of Blakeley’s clothing has been expedited, but may not be returned until the end of August. Deatherage also affirmed he’d be filing suppression motions, as well as a motion to exclude death.
Ovey-Wiggins also besought the court to maintain hard lines for reciprocal discovery — something the Commonwealth needs in order to consider its burden of proof.
A new timeline has now been scripted for both sides of the case. All motions must be filed by August 4, all responses from the Commonwealth must be submitted by August 17, all replies from the defense must be in hand August 24, and a final conclusive hearing will be observed August 28 — before the trial goes into motion September 18-29.
FULL HEARING: