Serving the High Plains

Missing Kentucky teen located in Tucumcari

Staff Report

A missing teenager whose stepmother was found dead in Kentucky on Thursday was located Saturday in Tucumcari.

Quay County law officers found Jenna Oakley, 15, in the parking lot of Tucumcari’s Motel 6.

The girl was with a 20-year-old man, Kenneth R. Nigh of Arlington, Indiana, who has been charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Nigh is being held in the Quay County Detention Center.

It was not immediately clear whether the teenager had gone willingly with Nigh. They were traveling in the dead woman’s 2014 Honda Civic.

Neither Nigh nor Oakley has been charged in connection with the death of Oakley’s stepmother, Rhonda Oakley.

Jenna Oakley was first reported missing while police were investigating her mother’s death, said Kentucky Trooper Robert Purdy.

Purdy said a family member discovered Rhonda Oakley’s body in the basement of her home near Danville, Kentucky.

When investigators were unable to find or locate her stepdaughter, Jenna, Kentucky State Police considered Jenna Oakley a missing person and circulated her picture all over the country. The car was entered into a national database as a stolen vehicle.

Purdy said no charges have been filed against Jenna Oakley, but she remains in police custody in New Mexico as the KSP work with New Mexico authorities to bring her back to Kentucky.

Purdy said the cause of Rhonda Oakley’s death has not been released and the case is still under investigation.

 
 
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