LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Two people have been charged in the murder of a missing 4-year-old girl in southern Kentucky.
The Whitley County Sheriff's Department arrested Brittany Slaughter, 24, and her boyfriend, Adam Hayes, 34, both of Williamsburg, Ky., for the murder of Chloe Darnell.
A body believed to be the 4-year-old's was recovered on Thursday, according to a social media post by the sheriff's office. The post did not say where the child was found. Her body was sent to the Kentucky state medical examiner's office in Frankfort for an autopsy.
Hayes and Slaughter -- who police said is the custodial parent of Chloe -- are both charged with murder, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with physical evidence.
Police said Slaughter and Chloe went missing in late September in a red 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer. The post said the car was recovered on Thursday, and Slaughter was taken into custody Thursday night. On Friday morning, the updated post detailed the two arrests.
Sheriff Bill Elliote told Lex18 that Hayes had previous convictions in Tennessee for assaulting a small child. The family asked law enforcement to do a welfare check this week, after they had been asking for some time about where the child was.
"From what I understand every time they would ask where Chloe was she was here? I there so it went on for an extend time, kind of like the Casey Anthony case we had in Florida several years ago, where it was the mother kept making excuses where the daughter was at before the family finally reported it," Elliote said.
Police said the investigation is ongoing and more charges are possible.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Whitley County Dispatch at 606-549-6017.
A family has member set up a crowd-funding page to help with Chloe Darnell's funeral expenses.
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