One of the over 400 pardons former Gov. Matt Bevin issued as he left office was to a woman convicted in Grayson County of killing her newborn baby.
Kathy Harless, now 54-years-old, was convicted in 2003 and sentenced to life in prison after her dead newborn was found in a port-a-potty at Bratcher’s Flea Market in April 2001. She gave birth to the baby then left the child in the portable bathroom cesspool.
Harless and her husband, Doug Harless, who could be described as nomadic, as the pair traveled around the country (with their five children) selling NASCAR memorabilia at flea markets, left the state after killing the baby and was featured on “America’s Most Wanted” as authorities conducted a search for her. She was arrested in Daytona Beach, Florida, about two weeks after the program aired.
A DNA test proved the baby was Harless.’
In pardoning Harless, Bevin wrote that she had “paid enough for the death of her newborn son.”
K105 has received an unconfirmed report that a woman convicted of shooting her husband in Grayson County, Jennifer Keller, has also been pardoned. Keller was convicted in 2016.
Currently, the Kentucky Secretary of State’s website, which publishes information on pardons, states, “Due to the volume of final actions by Governor Bevin, documents are still being processed.”
K105 continues to work to confirm Keller’s pardon.
(The portion of the story about Keller has been amended to say that she was convicted of shooting her husband, not killing him)
(Information on the Harless conviction was gathered from the response of the government to a lawsuit filed by Harless, as well as media reports on the murder)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
