Bullitt Co. mother who killed her young daughter sentenced to prison

The Bullitt County woman who killed her four-year-old daughter in December 2020 has been formally sentenced.

Catherine McKinney, 22, pled guilty earlier this month to manslaughter, tampering with physical evidence and abuse of a corpse in the death of her daughter, Serenity McKinney.

She was formally sentenced in a Bullitt County courtroom on Wednesday to 12-years in prison.

McKinney was originally charged with murder in the case, but reached a plea deal that amended the murder charge to manslaughter in exchange for her testimony against her boyfriend, 26-year-old Dakota Hill, who has also been charged with Serenity’s murder.

The Bullitt County Coroner’s Office said Serenity, whose skeletal remains were found in February 2022 in a wooded area in the 1300 block of Skyview Road in West Point, suffered broken arms and legs and was discovered wrapped in plastic and stuffed in a suitcase.

DNA tests had to be used to make a positive identification of Serenity’s body.

McKinney and Hill were arrested in Colby, Kansas, on February 6, 2022, and charged with Serenity’s murder a week after the girl’s grandparents reported to police that they had not seen Serenity since Christmas Eve 2020.