FEMALE Inmate death under investigation
FLOYD COUNTY – An inmate arrested in Magoffin County and transferred to the Floyd County Jail died after being transported to the hospital.
According to the arrest citation, written by Kentucky State Police Trooper M. Haney, on the night of December 2, Heather M. Slone, 38, of Wheelwright, was a passenger in a vehicle in which the driver was arrested for driving under the influence on Old KY 114 in Magoffin County, but she first gave police her sister’s name. When police ran the name, however, it came back with an active warrant, so she then gave law enforcement her name. She had six active warrants out of Floyd County.
While in the back seat of the police car, under arrest for her sister’s warrant, she advised Haney that she had something on her person that she needed to give him, proceeding to give him a bag of suspected marijuana, a bag of suspected methamphetamine, and a needle.
Slone was arrested and charged with giving an officer false identifying information; possession of a controlled substance, first degree, first offense (methamphetamine); possession of marijuana; public intoxication; and buying or possessing drug paraphernalia. She was taken to the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center.
According to jail records, she was booked at BSRDC at 2:35 a.m. on December 3 and left there at 11:17 a.m. on December 4, transferring to the Floyd County Jail.
Floyd County Sheriff John Hunt told WSAZ that jail employees discovered that Slone needed medical attention that evening, approximately four or five hours after arriving at the facility.
Slone was taken to Highlands ARH Regional Medical Center, then transported to Pikeville Medical Center, where she was pronounced deceased on December 7.
A GoFundMe page has been set up by Slone’s 15-year-old daughter to raise funds for her funeral expenses, noting that while she and her siblings had been adopted early on, they had remained a part of Slone’s life and that she wants to raise the funding for a proper burial: https://www.gofundme.com/f/heather-slone-funeral-expense?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet
While the cause of death has not been released and the coroner’s report is not available at press time, her daughter wrote that Slone passed away from a drug overdose while incarcerated after being in jail several days for public intoxication.
Floyd County authorities are still investigating the death.
By Heather Oney
Salyersville Independent
