Jayden Spicer case: new charges, lingering questions

According to court documents, Joshua Gross, who is married to Felicia Gross, has been indicted and charged in the 10-year-old's death and Felicia's charges have been upgraded.

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Jayden Spicer's case has captured the commonwealth's attention, after a multi-day search led to a horrific discovery. The 10-year-old's body was found buried near his home, and his mom admitted to police that she buried him there.

Now Felicia Gross, and her husband Joshua Gross, are both indicted in connection to his death. F. Gross' charges have been upgraded to include murder. J. Gross has been charged with complicity to murder, complicity to report an incident, tampering with physical evidence, abuse of a corpse and complicity to tamper with witnesses.

Gross was initially charged with with false report, manslaughter, tampering with physical evidence and abuse of a corpse. That manslaughter charge has been upgraded.

The Commonwealth's Attorney for the 39th Judicial Circuit Miranda King released a statement on the new charges that reads in part:

"I want to reiterate my thanks to Kentucky State Police Post 13 for their hard and professional work they have done and continue to do in their pursuit of justice for Jayden. On Tuesday afternoon, they did a job that no one should ever have to do, and there’s just no way we can ever adequately thank them for that service—but we can try. On Tuesday night, I told you that Jayden was in good hands now and we were going to take care of him. Today was the next phase in that promise.This morning, we convened a grand jury. With the foundation of the initial investigative work and the benefit of another week of knowledge, work, and evolution, Detective Nathan Roark presented Jayden’s case to the grand jury. On a personal note, as a mom of two that are my life, even the idea of this event seems unfathomable, but here we are in this unimaginable place. In Jayden’s short life, he got less than he deserved, so we are going to give him everything we have got in ours."

What we know

Spicer was first reported missing by his mother and her husband on August 6th, according to Kentucky State Police.

Family, friends and investigators started searching for the boy as soon as he was reported missing. F. Gross and J. Gross told police he went missing the night of August 5th into August 6th, after last being seen at his home in Breathitt County, KY.

One week later, on August 12th, Jayden's mom was brought into the Jackson Police Department. During a recorded interview, F. Gross confessed to providing Jayden "a type of sleeping medication", according to the arrest citation. She told officers the medication caused Jayden to have a medical emergency and, "she believed that he had passed away from this medical emergency".

Lingering questions

Some of you may remember my coverage of two heartbreaking cases involving Kentucky children who died at the hands of their parents, while on CPS radar. Those cases were Serenity McKinney and Maya Rudd.

“It's just heartbreaking to hear what led to where they're at. Social workers were involved," Kentucky State Auditor Allison Ball told me during an interview in 2024. She said, "We had awareness of the situation. So yes, I do feel like that's a failure."

Ball told me then she was instructing the Office of the Ombudsman to launch investigations into both child fatalities, to find out if social workers could have done more. In light of this new case, I have reached out to her office to find out where those investigations stand.

For the record- the details about CPS involvement in the Jayden Spicer case have not yet been confirmed.

I have reached out to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to learn more about Jayden's case (if one exists) on the state level. The agency acknowledged my questions but has not provided any answers.

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