Amber Nicole Spradlin. Credit: Hall Funeral Home via the Spradlin Family
On June 18, 2023, Amber Spradlin was found dead in the McKinney family home. Her family waited over a year for answers on who stabbed the 38-year-old 12 times in the head, neck and torso, causing her death.
On July 30, 2024, Michael McKinney II, a prominent local dentist and businessman, and his son Michael McKinney III were arrested, as well as a family friend. McKinney III was charged with murder, while McKinney II and Josh Mullins were charged with multiple counts of complicity to tampering with evidence.
In addition to complaints about the way 911 handled three separate calls from the McKinney house on the night/morning Spradlin was murdered, the Spradlin family and their lawyer cited a DNA backlog at the critically understaffed Kentucky State Police Forensic Laboratory as a reason for the case delay.
In response to this, Spradlin’s family has been pushing for legislators to introduce “Amber’s Law” during 2025’s legislative session. “Amber’s Law” would increase circuit court costs by $10 for each felony case. The extra $10 would then go into a fund controlled by the Kentucky State Police (KSP), earmarked specifically for the crime lab to fund salaries and update equipment if necessary.
“Amber’s Law” took inspiration from House Bill 363, which had almost the exact same elements. The bill was originally introduced in 2020 by Rep. John Blanton (R-Salyersville), but it did not advance past the Appropriations & Revenue Committee in the House.
In a January 2024 Kentucky Legislature meeting, KSP Commissioner Philip Burnette, Jr., confirmed that the KSP Forensic Laboratory is understaffed—partly due to low salaries.
“We do not have the number of trained staff to be able to make substantial strides. We continue to struggle to hire and retain staff in all areas of the laboratory,” said Burnette, Jr. “The laboratory continues to hire employees and lose them to higher paying jobs either during or shortly after they are trained.”
In 2024, the starting salary for a forensic science position in the KSP Crime Lab was $44,100—that ranks 47th in the nation for pay. Surrounding states offer salaries up to $20,000 higher for entry-level positions.
“By offering competitive salaries on par with neighboring state crime labs, Kentucky can attract highly qualified forensic scientists who might otherwise be enticed by better salaries elsewhere,” said Burnette, Jr. “Increasing the salary range will enable the state to tap into a larger pool of applicants and ensure that the most skilled and experienced professionals are recruited.”
Due—at least in part—to these low salaries, KSP Crime Labs has experienced an unusually high turnover of analysts.
For example, entry-level college students are hired for forensic positions in the Kentucky State Police Labs, they are trained, they work cases for a year or two, and then they leave the agency for another forensic laboratory in a surrounding state.
For example, in 2016, KSP calculated that the agency spent approximately $1.4 million in salaries training staff that left before ever working a case. In 2023, the KSP Crime Lab’s forensic biology section operated at no more than 58% of casework capacity due to vacancies and analysts in training. In fact, since KSP started tracking casework capacity in 2021, the forensic biology section has never operated at higher than 70% capacity.
“Increasing salaries to match or exceed those of surrounding state crime labs will create a more stable and attractive work environment and reduce turnover rates significantly. This stability will ensure the continuity of casework and prevent the loss of institutional knowledge and experience with the constant turnover of analysts,” said Burnette, Jr.