Sarah Paige Slone, a 35-year-old White/Caucasian woman with deep ties to eastern Kentucky and more recent residence in Delaware, Ohio, died from a fatal gunshot wound on November 21, 2025, in the Beaver community of Floyd County, Kentucky. Funeral home and obituary notices list her birth on June 11, 1990, in Martin, Kentucky, and identify her as the daughter of Rachel Gaffney Brown and the late John Slone; they also note that she had moved to Delaware while still maintaining close connections
to family in Kentucky. Local coverage has highlighted her role as a mother, mentioning two children, Ethan and Jasmine Brumfield, and describing the sense of loss felt by relatives and friends in both Ohio and Kentucky communities.
According to Kentucky State Police, the case began late in the morning on November 21, when Prestonsburg 911 requested assistance for an unresponsive female in the Beaver area. Troopers from the KSP Pikeville Post responded to a residence in the 14,000 block of Kentucky Route 979, where they found Slone deceased. Initial investigative findings indicated she had suffered a fatal gunshot wound, and the Floyd County Coroner pronounced her dead at the scene. Her body was transported to the Kentucky State Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy as investigators secured the home and began collecting evidence. Gun violence memorial sites and regional news outlets quickly documented her death as one of several recent shootings involving women in Kentucky, underscoring broader concerns about lethal violence against women in the state.
When troopers arrived at the scene, they also encountered 35-year-old Joshua Gayheart of Beaver. Reports indicate that Gayheart admitted to tampering with evidence related to Slone’s death and was initially arrested on a charge of evidence tampering. Over the following days, as detectives continued interviews and forensic work, Kentucky State Police announced that Gayheart had been formally charged with murder in connection with Slone’s fatal shooting. He was lodged in the Floyd County Detention Center, where he remains in custody pending further court proceedings. Authorities have not publicly released details about a possible motive, the nature of the relationship between Gayheart and Slone, or the exact sequence of events that led to the shooting, beyond confirming that the investigation supports a homicide charge.
Law enforcement statements emphasize that the case is still active and under investigation, with additional evidence being processed and witnesses being interviewed. Regional media have framed Slone’s killing as part of a troubling pattern, noting that she was the second woman murdered in Floyd County since late October and one of at least three Kentucky women killed by gunfire in roughly a month’s time. Community members in Beaver and surrounding towns have expressed shock at the violence, while memorial and obituary pages continue to focus on Slone’s family ties and the emotional void left by her sudden death. As with all criminal cases, reporting on Gayheart’s arrest notes that he is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and no convictions have yet been reported as of late November 2025.
