Overview

• Gross pleaded not guilty Thursday in Breathitt County court to second-degree manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and falsely reporting an incident while held on $1 million bond ahead of a preliminary hearing scheduled for August 18.
• Court documents say Gross admitted giving Jayden a sleeping medication that led her to believe he suffered a medical emergency before she buried his body in a plastic tote in a shallow grave on Canoe Road.
• Kentucky State Police recovered the 10-year-old’s remains on August 12 after receiving Gross’s statement; the Breathitt County Coroner declared him deceased and transferred his body to the Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office in Frankfort for an autopsy.
• Authorities have limited public disclosures of investigative details to preserve probe integrity as the case shifts from a missing-persons search to a homicide investigation.
• Family members and community supporters have held vigils and launched fundraisers in memory of Jayden while some relatives publicly question aspects of the official narrative.