Man who beat girlfriend, then killed self had history of violence

A man who police say beat his girlfriend nearly to death early Sunday morning before ending his own life has a history of violence, according to court records.

Thirty-one-year-old Kenneth Ingram had recently finished serving about 12 years in prison for the 1996 killing of 19-year-old Jake Harner. Authorities say Ingram used a stick to attack his girlfriend, Samantha Miller, while she slept early Sunday, then rode a bike to his parents home on Maple Creek Road and committed suicide with the family’s 12-guage shotgun.
The attack was no surprise to Mary Whitlow, the mother of a man killed by Ingram over 13 years ago.

"What he did to my son destroyed my life," said Mary Whitlow, recalling the June 8, 1996 shooting death of her son Jake Harner inside a trailer off Whetstone Road.

"He showed no remorse. He’s never tried to contact me or anything or any of the other family.  I do feel for his mother and father that he died. I know what that is like."

Ingram was 18 when he used a 12-guage shotgun to end the life of Harner by shooting him in the face. Police say the two men were friends who had gotten into a domestic dispute earlier in the day that erupted again later that evening, with deadly results.

Although authorities never did give a definitive reason for the shooting, Whitlow said her son and Ingram were fighting over Harner’s girlfriend.

"It was just a big old mess," Whitlow said.

According to court records, Ingram was arrested the day of the shooting and charged with murder and two counts of first-degree assault. Pellets from the buckshot he fired at Harner also hit two other occupants of the trailer.

He was indicted on all the charges a month later. On April 4, 1998, he negotiated a plea agreement with prosecutors and was sentenced to serve 17 years in jail for first-degree manslaughter. The assault charges were amended down to misdemeanor offenses and he was given a year in jail on each to run concurrent with the manslaughter conviction.
Whitley Circuit Judge Jerry Winchester approved the plea.

The case was investigated by Kentucky State Police Detective Colan Harrell who said Ingram had been drinking alcohol before the shooting. A separate charge of alcohol intoxication was dismissed by then Whitley District Judge Kim Wilson.
Whitlow said she spoke against parole for Ingram during a hearing eight and a half years into his sentence. His parole was denied.

Whitlow, who lives in Arkansas, said her son moved to Whitley County to live with his grandpa. Ingram was just a friend he had been running around with for a time before the shooting.

"A hundred times I’ve wished I hadn’t let that be plea bargained. I don’t think they should have ever let him out of jail," Whitlow said. "I was so afraid of the judicial system. Jake had been into it with a lot of people there. Once they get into it with you, they won’t quit. They just want to stir, and stir and stir stuff."