The mother of Jayden Spicer has now been charged with murder, as the boy’s stepfather has been newly charged with complicity to murder.
Felicia A. Gross, 33, of Jackson, the mother of 10-year-old Jayden, was initially charged with second-degree manslaughter in her son’s death, but that charge has been upgraded to murder. Gross’ husband, Joshua Gross, 41, of Jackson, was charged on Monday with complicity to murder.
Felicia Gross is facing several other counts, including abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and falsely reporting an incident. Joshua Gross, in addition to complicity to murder, has been charged with tampering with physical evidence, abuse of a corpse, complicity to falsely reporting an incident, and complicity to tampering with witnesses.
As a result, investigators identified a new sector to search in a heavily wooded area along Canoe Road in the Jackson community in Breathitt County. Detectives responded to the location and soon after, at approximately 3:00 Tuesday afternoon, Jayden’s remains were discovered buried in a shallow grave.
The remains were transported to the state Medical Examiner’s Office in Frankfort for an autopsy.
As K105 previously reported, Jayden’s mother reported him missing on Tuesday morning, August 4 at approximately 9:00. Felicia Gross told police Jayden went missing from their residence on Panbowl Brand Road.
She then transported his body to a wooded area and buried the child.
Jayden’s autopsy results will be available in the next few weeks which will give investigators information on what medication Jayden was given before he died and an estimated time of death.
Jayden, according to multiple media outlets, only recently began living with his mother following the death of his great-grandmother.
Both suspects are lodged in the Kentucky River Regional Jail.
(Photo l-r: Joshua Gross, Jayden Spicer, Felicia Gross)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
