In the quiet community of Scottsville, Kentucky, the life of 73-year-old Jimmy Neal Siddens, a retired truck driver, farmer, and church deacon, came to a tragic and violent end on February 18, 2018. His body, along with those of his 72-year-old wife, Helen, and their 41-year-old son, Jimmy Neal Siddens II, were discovered the following day outside their residence on Ray Pardue Road.
The family had been shot to death in a brutal act that would soon reveal a heart-wrenching betrayal.
The investigation quickly zeroed in on a suspect who was chillingly close to the victims. Edward Dilon Siddens, the 28-year-old grandson of Jimmy and Helen, was identified as the alleged killer. Having been adopted by his grandparents, he lived in another building on their property. The motive, as he would later confess to investigators, stemmed from a feeling of being tormented and controlled by his family. This tragic culmination had been foreshadowed by a history of domestic trouble, including a 2017 protective order taken out by his grandmother against him and a prior conviction for holding a gun to his grandfather's head.
Following the discovery of the bodies, a manhunt for Edward Siddens ensued. He had fled the state in his grandfather's pickup truck. The search came to an end the day after the bodies were found, when he was apprehended in Sedgwick County, Colorado, after a vehicle chase with sheriff's deputies. He was subsequently extradited back to Kentucky to face justice for the triple homicide.
In a court hearing that detailed the horrific events, it was revealed that Edward had meticulously planned the murders. He first lured his uncle, Jimmy Neal Siddens II, to the home and shot him numerous times. He then shot his grandmother, Helen, in the walkway outside the house before killing his grandfather, Jimmy Neal Siddens, in his vehicle. After his guilty plea to three counts of murder and other charges, Edward Dilon Siddens was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, bringing a somber conclusion to a case that devastated a family and shook the small Kentucky town.
