Boy's Parents Reported Him Missing — Then Came An Alleged Confession About Sleeping Medication Before Grisly Discovery By Staff Author

A Kentucky man has been accused of helping his wife cover up the death of her 10-year-old son after she was charged with manslaughter earlier this month in connection with the death, as local first responders are now calling on each other to help escort the child’s body to his final resting place.

Joshua Gross became the second person charged this week in connection with the death of 10-year-old Jayden Spicer, whose mother Felicia Gross first reported him missing on Aug. 6 – a week before police allege she confessed to killing her son, PEOPLE previously reported.

Joshua was charged on Monday with falsely reporting an accident, tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse, and two charges of tampering with a witness, WLKY and WKYT reported.

PEOPLE reported last week that police claim Felicia admitted to killing her son — after allegedly falsely reporting him missing to police and pleading on social media for help finding the boy. 

“We want him safe at home,” the mother wrote in a note she shared to social media. “Please if anybody see my son jayden spicer please report it to the jackson police department.”

But according to police, it was Felicia and Joshua — the boy’s stepfather — who were the last to see him alive.

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Felicia allegedly confessed to giving Jayden sleeping pills and later burying him in a plastic tote, according to an arrest document obtained by the Lexington Herald Leader.

The mother allegedly told investigators she thought the child died from an emergency stemming from sleeping medication he took, per the outlet.. She also allegedly confessed to “coaching” his siblings for their police interviews.

Felicia was charged with manslaughter, abuse of corpse, tampering with evidence and falsely reporting.

The case surrounding the 10-year-old boy has had an emotional impact on city officials, according to WLKY, which reported Wednesday that a Breathitt County jailer called on first responders to help him escort the young boy’s body from a local funeral home to the cemetery where he’ll be buried.

“In the 25 years I’ve been doing this, this is probably one of the sadder ones that I’ve been involved in,” the jailer said in his post, according to the outlet. “I hope to see nothing blue and red as far as we can see, and I hope that we can take Jayden to his final resting place in a way that he would be proud.”

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.