Father sentenced for murdering his 12-year-old daughter

An eastern Kentucky man has been sentenced in the shooting death of his 12-year-old daughter.

Stacy Collins, 50, of Van Lear (Johnson Co.), was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of  parole for 25 years after pleading guilty to murder and kidnapping.

Collins was sentenced for the August 11, 2022, murder of his daughter, Stacia Collins. The case began that morning at approximately 11:00 when Stacy Collins was found shot on an isolated roadway near Van Lear. It was determined he had shot himself.

“It was found that the male subject had what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” the case’s lead investigator, Johnson Co. Deputy Tim Clark, told WYMT.com at the time.

Stacy Collins was transported to Highland Appalachian Regional Hospital before being transferred to a Lexington hospital.

Not long after Stacy Collins was located, authorities discovered his daughter was missing. A search party was formed, and approximately two hours after her father was discovered, Stacia Collins’ body was located about two miles from where her father was found. She had been shot to death.

“Some people were driving through the area approximately … two-and-a-half-miles away from where the male subject was found, and they located a young female that was laying (sic) in the roadway,” Clark told the television station.

A week after the Stacia Collins was killed, police announced that her father was a suspect in her death.

(Photo l-r: Stacy Collins, Stacia Collins)

By Ken Howlett, News Director

Contact Ken at ken@k105.com