Kristina Adkins was a thirteen year old living in Michigan when she would murder her Grandmother by poisoning her
According to court documents Kristina Adkins would steal morphine pills from her Grandfather which she would then use to poison her Grandmother Virginia Bentley, 53
Kristina Adkins was arrested, convicted and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for thirty years
In a rather strange twist Kristina Adkins mother, Tina Adkins, would be arrested and charged with murder soon after her daughter was convicted. Tina Adkins who lived in Kentucky would be charged with the murder of Gregory Allen Shepherd. Tina Adkins had lost custody rights to her children and their father sent the kids to live with their Grandparents in Michigan
Kristina Adkins Current Information
MDOC Number:
706987
SID Number:
3576977W
Name:
KRISTINA LYNN ADKINS
Racial Identification:
White
Gender:
Female
Hair:
Brown
Eyes:
Brown
Height:
5′ 3″
Weight:
168 lbs.
Date of Birth:
08/23/1992 (33)
Current Status:
Prisoner
Earliest Release Date:
12/16/2037
Assigned Location:
Maximum Discharge Date:
12/16/2052
Kristina Adkins Case
Kristina Adkins cried as she apologized for poisoning Virginia Bentley in 2006. Adkins was 13 at the time.
Probate Judge Margaret Noe opted to sentence Adkins as an adult. She could have placed her in a juvenile facility until age 21 and then evaluated whether prison should be appropriate, court administrator David Stanifer said.
“She was very emotional and was crying,” Stanifer said of Adkins. “I think she realized some serious consequences were going to hit.”
“The judge received numerous letters from family members, both supporting a light sentence and a very severe sentence,” Stanifer said.
Adkins pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Oct. 10. Her attorney, Mike McFarland, claims she was mistreated by Bentley, 53.
McFarland told the court that Adkins had a troubled childhood that included mental health problems and drug abuse by the time she was 13, according to The Daily Telegram of Adrian.
McFarland said Adkins never gave a specific explanation for why she wanted to kill her grandmother. “I think it was cumulative of her entire life experience,” he said.
Lenawee County is on the Michigan-Ohio border.
Michigan teen gets life for poisoning grandmother | ABC30 Fresno | abc30.com – ABC30 Fresno
Kristina Adkins News
Tina Adkins, the mother of a teenage girl convicted of murder in Lenawee County, has been arrested in the murder of her boyfriend in Kentucky.
Adkins and two other people were arrested after they led police in Knott County, Ky., to the body of 38-year-old Gregory Allen Shepherd in a field early Tuesday morning.
Adkins was in Michigan last month and attended a hearing in Lenawee County Probate Court, where her daughter, 16-year-old Kristina Adkins, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the poisoning of the girl’s grandmother. The victim, Virginia Bentley, 53, died Aug. 1, 2006, at her Rollin Township home from an overdose of morphine. The drug was slipped into her prescription medication capsules.
Tina Adkins complained she did not believe her daughter should be tried as an adult in the case. She also said she was attempting to regain legal custody of Kristina and an older daughter who is living with a relative in Monroe County. Tina Adkins said her two daughters were taken from her years ago by their father and given to Bentley to raise in Michigan.
Kristina Adkins was sentenced as an adult to a life prison term on Oct. 31.
“Isn’t that bizarre to have two people that closely related involved in murder cases?” said Detective Mike Goble at the Kentucky State Police post in Pikeville.
Goble said Tina Adkins and two other suspects, Susan Morgan and Tommy Crum, have all been charged with complicity to commit murder. They are all lodged in the Floyd County Detention Center in lieu of $500,000 bonds. They are awaiting a preliminary court hearing.
The case began last week when Shepherd’s brother reported him missing, Goble said.
His body was found after police questioned Adkins, Morgan and Crum.
Goble said Shepherd’s body showed signs of multiple injuries.
“I don’t want to speculate on how they occurred,” he said. A medical examiner has not yet completed an autopsy, he said, and an exact cause of death has not been determined.
Police are not talking about how they believe the murder occurred, Goble said. They are also not saying anything about why Shepherd was killed.
“I’ve not given a motive to anyone,” Goble said. Investigators working on the case have said they did not yet have a clear idea of why the murder occurred, he said.
