Amber ‘Ambie’ Spradlin (38) was murdered in Kentucky in 2023. She was found dead inside the home of a prominent dentist, Dr. Michael McKinney. Her case is due to go to trial in May 2026.
Amber was born on October 7, 1984 to Tom and Sharon Spradlin. According to her obituary, Amber was raised by her grandparents – Margie and James Osborne.
Amber enjoyed being a member of the Prestonsburg Church of God and was working as a restaurant hostess at the time of her murder. She was a cat mom to Sadie and Twinkles.
By 2023, Amber’s mother and father had passed away, as had her sister Angela. Her mother Sharon died at age 33 in 1998. Angela was killed in a car accident in 1996 when she was 23. Her father Tom died at age 52 in 2007.
Amber was living in Prestonsburg, KY – a town with a population of around 3,500.
According to Uncovered.com, Amber was described as kind-hearted, compassionate and good natured.
Much about the events leading up to Amber’s murder are not known. We do know that as of June 2023, Amber had been working at a local brewhouse as a waitress/hostess. She had been employed there for around a year. I believe this restaurant was called The Brickhouse.
This restaurant was co- owned by Dr Michael McKinney – who we mentioned earlier. He was 56 at the time.
After Amber finished her shift on Saturday June 17, 2023, she went to a local hotel called Seasons Inn with some friends.
After spending some time at the hotel, the group went to Michael’s home. Michael Sr lived in the home with his son Michael III (24). Michael Jr is also referred to in some articles as MK. There were allegedly five people in the home at this time.
In the early morning of Sunday June 18, 2023, a 911 call was made from inside Michael’s home. Online comments indicate that this call may have come from Michael Jr, who was intoxicated. He apparently asked for emergency help with a drunk person who was injured. Michael Sr allegedly got on the call and said that help was not needed. Amber’s cousin Debbie has allegedly heard this call and said it described the injured person as ‘heavily bleeding.’
No emergency services were dispatched at the time. This was due to a recent change in the county’s systems. Floyd County had decided to switch the emergency 911 services from state police to a dispatch center run by the city of Prestonsburg.
Online comments indicate that later that morning, Michael Jr called the Prestonsburg police chief, Randy Woods. This info is from Lex18.com:
‘ Prosecutors noted that instead of calling 9-1-1 after finding Spradlin dead, Michael McKinney II made an 8-minute call to then Prestonsburg City Police Chief Randy Woods. When police talked to Woods about the call “Woods would only say that he told Defendant McKinney to call 911,” according to the response.’
At 10am, another 911 call was made from Michael. He said that he was calling to report a young female was lying dead in his Floyd County home.” He allegedly said during the call that the female’s throat had been slit.
There was a delay in law enforcement arriving – according to Uncovered.com, no authorities attended the scene until Kentucky State Police contacted a Floyd County Deputy.
Amber was found to be the female that was dead in the home. She was pronounced dead at the scene. It would later be determined that she had been stabbed 11 ir 12 times in the head, check and nest.
Her cousin Debbie Hall said “She was stabbed not once, not twice, not three times…she was stabbed eleven times in her head, her neck and her throat,”
Lex18.com alleges that Amber was stabbed 12 times –
Amber Spradlin, 38, was found dead in the home of prominent Prestonsburg dentist Michael McKinney II on June 18, 2023. Investigators would later release that she’d been stabbed 12 times in the head, neck and torso.
Amber had been so viciously attacked that the knife had broken in her neck.
When authorities began investigating, Michael Sr told them that his son had not been at the home overnight. When they checked CCTV, Michael Jr could be seen leaving the home early in the morning of June 18.
It was also discovered that two cameras were missing from the home.
Both a long-time housekeeper and a woman who was staying at the home at the time told investigators that there’d generally been a camera on the mantle in the living room aimed at the couch where the murder is believed to have occurred. Both it and a camera that was usually in the basement were gone when the investigation into Spradlin’s death began, according to prosecutors.
In July 2024, charges were laid in the case.
Michael “M.K.” McKinney III — Charged with murder and multiple counts of complicity to tampering with physical evidence. Prosecutors allege he stabbed Spradlin to death inside the home.
Dr. Michael McKinney II (his father) — A local dentist, charged with multiple counts of complicity to tampering with evidence (prosecutors say he helped destroy or conceal evidence).
Josh Mullins — A friend or associate, also charged with multiple counts of complicity to tampering with evidence.
It is alleged that the men cleaned blood from sinks, destroyed clothing and also removed the cameras that we mentioned.
DNA found under Amber’s fingernails is said to belong to either Michael Sr, Michael Jr or any of their ‘paternal relatives.’ The DNA was said to not match Josh Mullins or any of the other men in the home that night.
In October 2024, Michael Jr’s attorneys asked for a bond reduction, for additional discovery and for polygraph results to be produced.
Michael Jr’s attorneys said they had evidence that would tie a fourth man, Roy Kidd to Amber’s death.
His attorneys argued that Michael Jr was out of custody without incident for 13 months after Amber’s death before being charged, and that his lack of a criminal record shows he’s not a public safety risk or a flight risk.
“For over a year the intensity of the rumor mill and ‘Trial by Facebook’ increased, and pressure on public officials to hold someone responsible for Amber’s death mounted into a fever pitch,” his attorneys wrote in the motion. “Through all this, the Defendant continued to stay in Floyd County when not at Morehead. Even as billboards on public highways called for prosecutorial action, and members of the community passionately blamed the Defendant, he continued to stay with his family in Floyd County. Michael McKinney III has never shown any intention to abscond, nor would he even be able to do so.”
Prosecutors argued that the evidence they had ‘strongly implicates’ Michael Jr. They went on to say that he is “mentally unstable and a danger to the community,” and therefore asked that the court not lower his bond. They also said that when he was photographed by police three days after Amber’s death, he had “numerous suspicious scratches to both forearms.”
Michael Sr was released from jail in October 2024, under the condition that he remained on house arrest. The conditions of his home incarceration do allow him to leave for specific reasons, such as work, education and doctor’s appointments, but he must obtain permission beforehand. He would also continue to be monitored by GPS during trips out of the home.
McKinney has asked the judge to be allowed to leave home to work the following schedule:
Monday, 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Wednesday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
The schedule includes a commute time of 30 minutes each way. He has also asked to leave the office between the hours of 1 to 2 p.m. each day to visit his banks.
The Kentucky Board of Dentistry has suspended McKinney’s dental license, but that just covers his ability to see patients. He is still able to work on general business matters in the office.
Michael Jr did end up being released in late 2025 after bond was posted. A judge ruled that his bond could be released to $5m and that he could pay a $500,000 property bond combined with $4.5 million, 10% of which would be paid in cash ($450,000).
Amber’s family have pushed for ‘Amber’s Law’to be passed. This law would increase circuit court costs by $10 for each felony case. The extra $10 would then go into a fund controlled by the Kentucky State Police (KSP), earmarked specifically for the crime lab to fund salaries and update equipment if necessary.
In addition to complaints about the way 911 handled three separate calls from the McKinney house on the night/morning Spradlin was murdered, the Spradlin family and their lawyer cited a DNA backlog at the critically understaffed Kentucky State Police Forensic Laboratory as a reason for the case delay.
As of the time of recording, the family are still advocating for Amber’s Law to be passed.
The trial has been delayed multiple times — initially set for December 2025, then postponed to allow extensive DNA and forensic testing, and later moved to May 2026 (trial date discussions have referenced May 11, 2026).
This delay is partly due to new DNA technologies and the high volume of evidence that needed to be processed.
A change of venue was also granted. The trial has been moved from Floyd County to Pike County in an effort to ensure impartial proceedings.
Some of the most recent updates in the case happened in January 2026.
Prestonsburg city and Floyd County officials are seeking dismissal of a wrongful death lawsuit filed in connection with Amber’s death, citing governmental immunity.
The suit was filed in 2024, against both McKinney’s, as well as officials.
This info is from Lex18:
The plaintiffs claim local leaders breached their ministerial duties when they transferred 911 dispatch services from Kentucky State Police to the Prestonsburg 911 Center about six months before Spradlin’s murder.
An early morning 911 call was made from the McKinney home reporting a man — not Spradlin — bleeding and in need of medical help. However, police were never dispatched to the home.
“Well, the gist of this is that when the 911 emergency services was transferred from post 9 at the KSP in Pikeville to Prestonsburg that no attempt was made to ensure that there would be coverage in the county for a law enforcement response,” said Dale Golden, the plaintiff’s attorney.
A scheduled hearing in the case was postponed, and additional court proceedings (including depositions and filings) are underway.
SOURCE LIST
https://uncovered.com/cases/amber-spradlin
https://www.hallfuneralservice.com/obituary/Amber-Spradlin
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38941195/angela_kay-spradlin
https://uncovered.com/cases/amber-spradlin
https://www.housecreep.com/ee/659-arkansas-creek-road-martin-ky-41649-us
https://fox56news.com/news/kentucky/man-accused-of-killing-amber-spradlin-released-on-bond
