Jenna Oakley | 15-Year-Old Girl Does the Unthinkable to Her Stepmother

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[00:00:26] combined with any other offer. This is True Crime Psychology and Personality, where we discuss

[00:00:41] the pathology behind some of the most horrific crimes and those who committed them from

[00:00:46] a scientifically informed perspective. I'm Dr. Todd Grande, I have a PhD in counselor

[00:00:53] education and supervision, and I'm a licensed professional counselor of mental health. Dr.

[00:00:58] Todd Grande, that's my YouTube channel. Today's question is, can I analyze the case of

[00:01:04] Jenna Oakley? First, I'll look at the background of this case, move to the timeline of the crime

[00:01:10] than all from my analysis. Jenna Oakley was born in 2001 and raised in the state of Indiana

[00:01:16] or father Philip and her mother Christie separated and Philip moved to Danville, Kentucky.

[00:01:23] Jenna and her younger brother David would visit Philip in Kentucky every other weekend.

[00:01:28] When Jenna was 11 or 12 years old, she was targeted by a teenager named Kenneth Nye.

[00:01:35] He was looking for romance. Kenneth was about five years older than Jenna. For some reason,

[00:01:41] no one reported this relationship to the police, or if they did, no action was taken.

[00:01:47] The conditions in the home where Jenna lived were unpleasant and she did not want to live there

[00:01:51] anymore. In April of 2016, she asked her father Philip if she could move to Kentucky and live with him.

[00:02:00] He agreed and Jenna moved into a basement bedroom in the Oakley family house.

[00:02:05] Not long after this, her brother David made the move as well. By this point, Philip was remarried.

[00:02:12] His wife was named Ronda Oakley. Jenna continued her relationship with Kenneth Nye.

[00:02:18] At this point, Jenna was 15 and Kenneth was 20.

[00:02:22] Philip and Ronda were not happy about the situation and took away Jenna's electronic devices.

[00:02:28] They told her that she could not continue to seek Kenneth. Jenna let her father and stepmother

[00:02:33] to believe that she would comply with their wishes.

[00:02:37] Philip spoke to Kenneth and threatened to call the police on him if he refused to end the relationship

[00:02:43] with Jenna. Kenneth said that he was sorry and promised that he would no longer communicate with her.

[00:02:50] At this point, Kenneth was in the army and stationed in Colorado, which made it seem as though

[00:02:55] he had moved on with his wife. In reality, the relationship between Kenneth and Jenna never ended.

[00:03:03] Jenna continued to communicate with Kenneth using the electronic device of a friend.

[00:03:09] Now moving to the timeline of the crime. On August 31, 2016, Kenneth Nye was discharged from the army

[00:03:16] after deliberately failing a physical test. Before this, he had filed a petition to be a conscientious

[00:03:22] objector but he was impatient and decided to take a faster route to be kicked out of the army.

[00:03:28] He was dropped off at an airport with a plane ticket to Indiana. He changed the destination

[00:03:35] to Lexington, Kentucky, which is about 35 miles away from Danville. Kenneth arrived in Lexington

[00:03:42] during the afternoon and took a taxi to Danville. He gave the taxi driver the address of the

[00:03:48] Oakley family house but said that he wanted to surprise the family. Therefore, he exited the

[00:03:53] taxi at the end of the street and walked toward the house. He spent the night in the house with

[00:03:59] a Jenna but no other family member knew that he was there. On September 1, 2016, Philip and

[00:04:05] Rhonda went to work and David went to school. Jenna did not go to school. She spent the day with

[00:04:11] Kenneth in the house. At some point she retrieved a knife and kept it in her basement bedroom.

[00:04:19] Rhonda came home from work at 3pm which was earlier than usual. She walked down the basement steps

[00:04:26] as Kenneth hid in Jenna's closet. A verbal altercation started because Rhonda was upset

[00:04:31] with Jenna missing school. Jenna started choking Rhonda but was unable to overpower her.

[00:04:38] Kenneth emerged from the closet and started choking Rhonda from behind.

[00:04:42] After Rhonda was rendered unconscious, Jenna used the knife she had retrieved earlier

[00:04:47] and stabbed Rhonda in the throat multiple times. Rhonda did not survive.

[00:04:53] Kenneth appeared to be somewhat disturbed by the homicidal behavior. He vomited in Jenna's trash can.

[00:05:00] Young lovers fled in Rhonda's white 2014 Honda Civic. At 4pm, 13-year-old David was dropped

[00:05:08] off by the bus and entered the Oakley family house. As he was loading the dishwasher,

[00:05:13] he heard the family dogs barking in the basement. When he investigated, he found his stepmother

[00:05:19] Rhonda on the floor. David went to a neighbor's residence and emergency services were contacted.

[00:05:25] When the police arrived, they found 52-year-old Rhonda Oakley dead on the basement floor.

[00:05:31] They noticed Jenna was missing, along with Rhonda's Honda Civic. They were able to eliminate

[00:05:36] Philip as a potential suspect because he was at work all day. When the police learned about

[00:05:41] Jenna's relationship with Kenneth and I, he became the obvious suspect. Investigators didn't know

[00:05:48] if Kenneth had kidnapped Jenna or if she had left with him on her own volition. They started

[00:05:54] tracking his phone. It appeared as though Kenneth was moving west across the country. Unfortunately,

[00:06:00] the phone was not consistently pinging towers, so initially the police could not obtain enough

[00:06:05] information to find Kenneth. At one point, the couple had been spotted at a Walmart store where they

[00:06:11] purchased a phone charger. In the store surveillance video, Jenna did not appear to be in distress.

[00:06:16] She was walking through the store with Kenneth as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

[00:06:21] On September 3, 2016, two days after Rhonda's murder, Kenneth's phone pinging into Comcari, New Mexico,

[00:06:28] which is about 1200 miles west of Danville, Kentucky. A police officer in New Mexico spotted

[00:06:34] Rhonda's Honda Civic in the parking lot of a Motel 6. In the vehicle, he found Kenneth and Jenna.

[00:06:42] When Jenna saw the officer's flashlight, she started the engine, but then when she saw the

[00:06:47] officer's firearm, she decided to turn it off. Kenneth and Jenna were arrested without incident,

[00:06:53] but destination for Kenneth was jail, but Jenna was taken to a juvenile detention facility due to her age.

[00:07:00] On September 5, Kenneth used a blanket on a hook in his jail cell to facilitate a hanging.

[00:07:07] He was found non-responsive and placed on life support at a hospital. In his jail cell,

[00:07:13] the authorities found a note. It read quote,

[00:07:17] I, Kenneth, I, admit to killing Rhonda Oakley. Jenna had nothing to do with it. She was not in the house

[00:07:24] when I killed Rhonda. I take blame for everything, I am truly sorry. On September 12,

[00:07:32] Jenna was extradited to Kentucky. The police interviewed her without telling her about how Kenneth

[00:07:37] was preparing to check out permanently. She readily confessed to her involvement in the murder.

[00:07:43] After providing the details of how she and Kenneth carried out the homicide,

[00:07:48] Jenna explained how she threw the knife away when she was traveling with Kenneth.

[00:07:53] Jenna was charged as an adult with complicity to commit murder and theft by unlawful taking

[00:07:59] over $10,000. In mid-October, Kenneth was the recipient of both good news and bad news.

[00:08:07] The good news, all the charges against him were to be dismissed. The bad news, the reason for this

[00:08:13] was his death. During a pretrial hearing, Jenna was informed about the demise of Kenneth and

[00:08:19] screamed in the courtroom. In addition to the destruction of her fantasy of a never-ending romance,

[00:08:25] she probably realized that if she had not confessed, she could have placed all the blame on Kenneth.

[00:08:32] Despite the confession and other evidence against Jenna, the state of Kentucky made a move

[00:08:37] that surprised many. They offered Jenna a plea deal. On April 1, 2019, Jenna pleaded guilty to

[00:08:45] manslaughter in the first degree and theft by unlawful taking over $10,000. On March 27, 2019,

[00:08:53] she was sentenced to 10 years for the manslaughter charge and five years for the theft charge.

[00:08:59] The sentences were to run consecutively, so it was a 15-year sentence. Jenna could be released as

[00:09:04] early as 2027 based on good behavior and will definitely be released no later than 2031.

[00:09:11] Now moving to my analysis, while many people are satisfied with how this case ended for Kenneth

[00:09:16] Nye, there has been a good deal of disagreement about the sentence that Jenna Oakley received.

[00:09:22] Some people, including Jenna's father Philip, believe that her sentence was too lenient.

[00:09:28] How is she able to murder someone and yet only receive 15 years in prison?

[00:09:33] Other people believe the sentence was too harsh. The age difference between the young lovers meant

[00:09:38] that Kenneth was committing a crime and in a position of power, maybe he manipulated Jenna

[00:09:44] into killing Rhonda. Let's take a look at the evidence both foreign against the idea that Jenna's

[00:09:49] sentence was too lenient, starting with the factors that support this theory. When Jenna moved

[00:09:55] to her father's house in Kentucky, she acknowledged his directive that the relationship with Kenneth

[00:10:01] needed to end. Instead of complying, she deceived him and circumvented the measures that he took

[00:10:07] to prevent her from contacting Kenneth. The police found a journal written by Jenna. She wrote about

[00:10:12] stabbing her entire family to death and even documented step-by-step instructions. She wrote,

[00:10:19] quote, need to kill Philip first, 4am to 5am, two knives prepared, with me killed David last,

[00:10:30] kill Rhonda second, 6am to 8am. Kill David in his room, ask Philip to go downstairs real quick,

[00:10:38] then as we are going down, slice his neck in the front, walk into Rhonda's bedroom and stab her,

[00:10:45] stab David in his bed. At another point, Jenna expressed gratitude about the idea that her

[00:10:52] entire family would be murdered when she wrote, quote, they'll be dead soon. Thankfully,

[00:10:59] Jenna confessed to being the one who stabbed her stepmother to death. She had retrieved the knife

[00:11:03] in advance, which points to premeditation. After the murder, Jenna fled with Kenneth in Rhonda's

[00:11:10] car and disposed of the knife. She clearly knew what she did was wrong. Now moving to the factors that

[00:11:17] contradict the theory that Jenna's sentence was too lenient, Jenna did well in school and did not

[00:11:22] have a criminal record. She may have been manipulated by Kenneth. He clearly wanted to be with her

[00:11:28] desperately, which was a strong motive to commit the murder. In his final note, Kenneth exonerated Jenna

[00:11:35] and took full responsibility for the homicide. According to Jenna's defense, she had been moved

[00:11:41] back and forth between her parents. When Jenna was three years old, social services became involved

[00:11:46] in her life. A neighbor noticed that Jenna and her siblings were left alone for long periods of

[00:11:52] time. It was garbage scattered everywhere and the home was full of feces. You're in vomit,

[00:11:59] rats, roaches, and fleas. Jenna was covered in flea bites and miserable. Moldy dishes were in the

[00:12:06] sink and medications were within the reach of children. Jenna's mother worked at a jail and

[00:12:12] allegedly bailed out a criminal who came to live with the family. He ended up stealing from them.

[00:12:18] Stability was elusive to Jenna. For example, she never completed an entire school year in any one

[00:12:25] school district. When Jenna lived with her father, it appeared as though she had more stability,

[00:12:31] but her basement bedroom was referred to by her defense as moldy. When considering the evidence,

[00:12:37] do I believe that Jenna's sentence was too lenient? Yes, Jenna not only murdered her stepmother,

[00:12:43] but planned to murder her father and brother. I think a sentence of 30 years would have been

[00:12:48] reasonable under the circumstances, but the state was in a tough position as far as taking this case

[00:12:53] to a jury. But do I think happen in this case? This is just a theory, my opinion.

[00:12:59] Jenna was raised in a chaotic environment and was not protected from Kenneth. They started a

[00:13:04] relationship and believed they were in love. Jenna wrote about marrying Kenneth someday and insisted

[00:13:11] the relationship was eternal. Both Jenna and Kenneth were immature, soft-centered,

[00:13:17] hedonistic, impulsive, irresponsible, sadistic, and had a lack of empathy. They were focused on

[00:13:23] immediate gratification with no consideration of the future. Everything was about them. No one

[00:13:30] else mattered. A couple could have easily conducted a murder-free escape from Kentucky,

[00:13:35] but that wasn't good enough for Jenna. She wanted to kill before leaving because Rhonda had

[00:13:40] interfered with the romance. To Jenna, other human beings were simply objects. Her stepmother

[00:13:47] Rhonda was an obstacle, not a person with rights. Jenna murdered without remorse and without

[00:13:53] a second thought to protect a toxic relationship. She then went on her magical journey with Kenneth,

[00:13:59] believing they would have a fairy tale romance. Kenneth also had a warped view of the relationship.

[00:14:05] He believed they were destined to be together. In his final note, he lied to protect Jenna.

[00:14:11] He probably thought of this as a grand romantic gesture, a heartwarming demonstration of his love

[00:14:18] that Jenna could finally contemplate for the rest of her life. Even though Jenna's guilt was clear,

[00:14:23] the state of Kentucky was concerned about the age difference between Kenneth and Jenna.

[00:14:28] They worried that a jury might believe Jenna was manipulated into committing the homicide.

[00:14:33] They offered Jenna a plea bargain, which involved a short sentence considering the crime,

[00:14:38] but at least it guaranteed a conviction. I think that the state of Kentucky had a vowed point,

[00:14:43] especially given Jenna's difficult upbringing and how she was victimized by Kenneth.

[00:14:48] It's hard to imagine her both as a victim and as a killer, but these descriptions can be true

[00:14:55] simultaneously. I'm moving to my final thoughts. Jenna not only killed her stepmother,

[00:15:01] she devastated her father. He told the media, quote, I hate what she did. I don't necessarily hate

[00:15:08] my daughter. I want to be able to forgive my daughter, but I just don't know how. I haven't figured

[00:15:13] that out yet. Unquote it would appear as though he never did figure it out on another occasion.

[00:15:19] Philip said quote, I can tell you I hate my daughter. Unquote other family members of Ronda were

[00:15:26] also understandably displeased. Jenna wanted to live in a world where her family did not exist.

[00:15:32] She will have to settle for a world where she does not exist, to her family.

[00:15:44] This has been true crime psychology and personality from R's Lunga media.

[00:15:50] This content is for educational and entertainment purposes only. R's Lunga Vita Brebus.

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