Tag Archive for 'Elizabethtown'

Police say recent assault similar to 1992 slaying

Herald-Leader staff report

Kentucky State Police are investigating whether the man arrested in a brutal attack in Breckinridge County last month was involved in the unsolved murder of an Elizabethtown woman in 1992.

Ernest Pine, 58, of Breckinridge County, has been charged with rape, sodomy, burglary and attempted murder. State police said he attacked a woman on Aug. 25 and slit her throat.

Before she was flown to University Hospital in Louisville in critical condition, the woman told police that Pine attacked her, trooper Steve Pavey said.

State police said there are similarities between the attack and the 1992 murder of Elena Sanchez Hawkins, 29, who was found dead by her husband at their home on Jan. 8, 1992.

Her wrists had been bound, she had been sexually assaulted and her throat had been cut, according to the state police Web site. She died from blood loss.

The Herald-Leader does not name people who allege sexual assault.

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Judge declares murder suspect competent for trial

The Associated Press

ELIZABETHTOWN — A judge in Elizabethtown has found a murder suspect competent to stand trial.

Former Army National Guard soldier Jeremy Shields is charged in the death of Wendy Sue Logsdon, who worked with him at a shoe distribution warehouse in Shepherdsville. Shields pleaded not guilty in April.

Police say Shields used a claw hammer to kill Logsdon inside his parents’ home in Radcliff while they were out of town, then dumped the body in Hart County.

On Tuesday, Hardin Circuit Judge Ken Howard heard a psychiatrist testify that Shields could have flashbacks, nightmares and mentally block out emotionally charged events, due to the effects of his combat experience in Iraq.

However, The News-Enterprise of Elizabethtown reports that the doctor said Shields should be able to help attorneys defend him in court.

Information from: The News-Enterprise, http://www.thenewsenterprise.com

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