Authorities found a mother deceased this week after she disappeared several weeks ago, and it came after one of her children reportedly informed a school counselor.
Hoover’s husband, Judson Keith Hoover, 50, of Indiana, was arrested in her death, Police Chief Todd Bailey and Floyd County Prosecutor Chris Lane said at a press conference. He entered a guilty plea in court on Thursday.
According to an affidavit released by Lane, one of the woman’s children told a school counselor that he saw his father kill his mother in the basement. When Judson Hoover arrived to pick up the children at school, police were there and arrested him, as reported by the Courier-Journal.
Investigators found what appeared to be blood on the basement stairs.
Security footage also allegedly showed Judson Hoover moving a large object to a storage unit on Aug. 4.
Bailey told reporters that officials “put everything into high gear and spent countless hours uncovering the facts of this case” after the child told the counselor. “That took a lot of courage,” Bailey added of the child.
Judson Hoover, meanwhile, previously faced domestic violence charges that were filed in April 2020. Court records also show that Hoover filed for a divorce on Aug. 3.
Hoover is still in police custody, and he will be sentenced on Oct. 2.
