In the quiet community of Scottsville, Kentucky, a grim discovery was made on Monday, February 19, 2018, at a residence on Ray Pardue Road. Authorities responding to a call for assistance found the bodies of three family members outside the home near the front entrance. The victims were identified as 72-year-old Helen Ruth Siddens, a female, her 73-year-old husband, Jimmy Neal Siddens, and their 41-year-old son, Jimmy Neal Siddens II.
All three had suffered apparent gunshot wounds and were pronounced deceased at the scene by the Allen County Coroner's Office.
The investigation into the triple homicide quickly focused on a family member. The victims' grandson, 28-year-old Edward Dilon Siddens, who had also been adopted by his grandparents and lived in another building on their property, was identified as a person of interest. Later that same day, law enforcement officials in Sedgwick County, Colorado, located and detained Edward Siddens after a vehicle pursuit. He was driving a pickup truck that belonged to his grandfather. Arrest warrants were issued by the Allen Circuit Court charging him with three counts of murder, violation of a protective order, and theft by unlawful taking of an automobile.
During a police interview, Edward Siddens confessed to the killings, stating that he had decided to kill his grandparents and uncle the day before the murders. He claimed they had been 'tormenting him, pushing his buttons and holding what they did for him over his head.' The investigation revealed that he had used four firearms, all belonging to his grandfather, to carry out the attack. He first shot his uncle inside the home, then his grandmother in the walkway outside, and finally his grandfather in his vehicle, from which he also took some money. Autopsies would later show the brutal nature of the crime, with Helen Siddens having been shot 17 times.
In July 2020, Edward Dilon Siddens pleaded guilty to all charges against him, a deal that spared him the death penalty. In September of that year, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. This brought a legal conclusion to a case that had deeply affected the Scottsville community and left a family devastated by an unthinkable act of violence from within. Helen Siddens was remembered as a homemaker, a former employee of Houchens, a licensed beautician, and a private caregiver who was a member of the New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church.
