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Years After Woman’s Death Was Initially Misclassified As Suicide, Boyfriend Allegedly Confesses To Her Murder
Kaylyn Whitaker, 20, was found dead in Conner Scott's home with a gunshot wound to the head on Halloween night in 2014.
A man walked into an Indiana police station Sunday to confess to the murder of his girlfriend, who was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head on Halloween night 2014, authorities say.
Kaylyn Whitaker’s body was found in the Clark County, Illinois home of her boyfriend, Conner Scott, but ther death was initially believed to be a suicide, according to WTWO. Ten months after her death, an autopsy would re-classify the death as a homicide but investigators were unable to find enough evidence to formally charge anyone in the crime.
The case took an unexpected turn Sunday night when Scott, 24, walked into the Danville Police station and allegedly confessed to killing his one-time girlfriend, nearly four and a half years after the woman's death.
Whitaker’s family were shocked to hear the sudden confession had been made but were relieved their daughter would finally get justice.
“I wouldn’t have guessed. I really thought he was going to get away with this,” her father Dave Whitaker told the station of hearing the news.
Authorities arrived at the conclusion Whitaker's death was a homicide because the suicide theory wasn't consistent with the physical evidence.
“It is my opinion that Kaylyn could not have shot herself in the location where the bullet entered her skull,” Illinois Appellate Prosecutor Ed Parkinson wrote after reviewing the reports, WTHR reports.
Yet, investigators made no arrests in the case. As the years continued to pass, her family’s frustration grew.
“We deserve closure, we deserve peace," her mother Leslie Roberts told WTWO in Dec. 2018. "This is a homicide case, it has been since 2015 and nothings being done about it and I am angry, very angry."
In December, Parkinson told the local news station he wasn’t going to classify Scott as a suspect in the death, but did say that the two were together when Whitaker died.
Earlier this month, it appeared that things began to unravel for Scott. His current girlfriend contacted Danville Police to report she was concerned he may be suicidal and officers confiscated his firearms under the “Jake Laird Law” which allows officers to seize the firearms of individuals who may be mentally unstable or a risk to others, WTHR reports.
Then on Sunday, he arrived at the police station and later agreed to tape a confession after meeting with investigators, authorities said.
Whitaker’s mother now says she’s forgiven Scott for taking away the daughter she still misses.
“I can truthfully say to him that I do forgive him,” she told WTWO after learning of his confession. “I couldn’t before when it first happened but that’s what I would say to him.”
She believes Scott loved her daughter but “made a really bad choice.”
Scott is expected to be taken back to Illinois where the alleged crime occurred to face a first-degree murder charge, according to the Illinois State Police.
