CLARK COUNTY
Disturbing Details In Child Death
Disturbing details about what led to the death of a ten-year-old girl, allegedly at the hands of her father and stepmother, were released in court Tuesday.
Patrick Watkins, 30, and his wife, Joy Watkins, are charged with the murder of Michaela Watkins. The girl's bruised and lifeless body was found in her family's Winchester apartment March 11.
On Tuesday, detective James Hall, took the stand, and told the courtroom that Michaela Watkins was beaten to death.
According to investigators, Patrick and Joy Watkins claim that Michaela and her stepmother got into a physical altercation on the morning of March 10. Later, they claimed she fell out of the bathtub, hitting her head twice and was going in and out of consciousness.
But, instead of taking the girl to the doctor, the couple says the whole family went to the Red River Gorge the following day. The couple also told police that when they got home from Red River Gorge Michaela fell down the stairs, and that's when Patrick Watkins's sister called 9-1-1.
However, according to the autopsy report, Michaela had died about five hours earlier, and had been with a blunt object similar to a 2-by-4, fracturing seven ribs, on her left side. The autopsy shows blunt force trauma to the chest, which caused respiratory failure, as the cause of death.
Hall also testified Tuesday that at some point prior to her death the girl was physically placed in scalding water, causing burns to her legs and buttocks. "The burns are on the bottom of the buttocks, and the back of the legs, the bottom of the legs extending all the way to the heel. There are no burns on the bottom of her feet, toes of the feet, or the top of the foot," said Hall.
The case was sent to the grand jury.
Patrick and Joy Watkins are each being held in the Clark County Detention Center on a $100,000 full cash bond.
