Kentucky prosecutor wants trial of dentist's son delayed. Cal Harris sues cops. Plus, rental scams.
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What happened in the Amber Spradlin murder case?
They said on the Today Show that there were snowflakes on the plaza. It's the start of another workday here at Dateline headquarters. It certainly was cold enough for a little snowflake. Our producers are catching up on breaking crime news. The husband is speaking out saying it had nothing to do with it.
There was no date for the retrial, right? She wrote in her diary that if I end up dead, then my husband did it.
Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly. I'm Andrea Canning. It's November 13th, and here's what's on our docket. In upstate New York, a man who stood trial four times for his wife's murder and was acquitted takes the investigators to court.
From his perspective, they put him through hell, four trials, three years behind bars, and many years of separation from his children.
In Dateline Roundup, updates on the case of Kata Scott, the murdered aspiring beauty queen, and former baseball pitcher and convicted killer Dan Serafini pushes for a new trial.
Serafini's defense attorney questioned the juror in front of the judge about how she used computer tools to review evidence during the case.
Plus, rental scams on social media are on the rise. NBC News chief consumer investigative correspondent Vicky Nguyen tells us what to watch out for.
They rip off a bunch of people and disappear.
Before all that, we're heading to a small town in eastern Kentucky where the son of a local dentist is behind bars awaiting trial for murder. His dad has been charged, too, with helping him cover it up. In June 2023, Amber Spradlin, a 38-year-old restaurant hostess in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, was found stabbed to death in the home of Dr. Michael McKinney, the town dentist. For over a year, there were no arrests. Then, in August 2024, the dentist's son, Michael, or MK as he's called, was charged with Amber's murder and multiple counts of tampering with evidence. The dentist and a family friend were also charged with tampering with evidence. Their trial was expected to begin in December. All three men have pleaded not guilty.
But at a recent pretrial hearing, the prosecutor urged the judge to give him more time. The defense wasn't having any of it.
It's not fair for someone who's never been charged with a crime to sit in jail while they get their ducks in a row for a case that they brought.
Here to tell us why the prosecutor wants to put the brakes on the case and what the judge decided is my friend and colleague, Dateline correspondent Blaine Alexander. Hey, Blaine. Hi, Andrea. Glad to join you. Yeah. So, okay, before we dive into the allegations and talk about what's going on in the courtroom, tell us about Amber. I know you've been working on this story for a while. Yeah, well, Andrea, Amber loved her family. That's the first thing that her cousin Debbie Hall told me. She was just really, really close to all of her family members. She had a huge smile, a tremendous personality. She worked at a local restaurant called Brick House, where she loved to talk to customers and really just enjoyed being social and flashing that big smile to everyone.
Which makes, you know, her final moments, her last hours all the more heartbreaking. Tell us about what we know about her. Well, we know that on the night of June 17th, Amber finished up her shift at that restaurant, Brick House, and she went to a bar with a friend, Roy Kidd. That's where she and Roy bumped into the dentist, Dr. Michael McKinney, and his son, MK. They all wound up going back to the dentist's house to just hang out and have a few more drinks together. Well, the next morning, according to prosecutors, it was Roy Kidd who found Amber dead on the living room couch and and then went over into the next room to get the dentist's help. The dentist called 911 and told dispatch, quote, Now, according to the autopsy report, Amber had been stabbed at least 12 times.
times, Andrea. It was just truly a horrible scene. A year later, police arrested MK, the son, and he was charged with Amber's murder. What evidence do prosecutors say implicates him in the murder?
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What happened in the Amber Spradlin murder case?
0:02–5:22
2
What evidence links the dentist's son to the murder?
5:22–10:21
3
Why is the trial of the dentist's son being postponed?
10:21–14:01
4
What are the details of Cal Harris's lawsuit against investigators?
14:01–18:39
5
How many trials did Cal Harris face for his wife's murder?
18:39–23:25
6
What are the allegations against the investigators in Harris's case?
23:25–28:45
Speakers
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