Dad Who Held Gun to Ex’s Head and Forced Her to 'Choose Between' Herself and Son Learns Fate

• Joshua Farmer was sentenced to 80 years in prison after murdering Kayla Farmer in 2023
• A month before the killing, prosecutors said the killer punched and choked the victim before holding a gun to her head
• Kaylah’s sister Kassie Adkins reportedly testified that her sister’s “children will live with the reality that their father killed their mother”

Kaylah Farmer’s mother and two sisters provided an emotional message to her killer in court last week, telling the ex-husband who stalked and shot her at an Indiana gas station that he will be forever “erased” from their lives and “forgotten.”

Joshua Farmer was sentenced to 80 years in prison for the June 2023 murder, according to local WTHR. Farmer, 32, pleaded guilty to the murder in March, according to The Current. Local Fox 59 had reported that Hamilton County prosecutors originally sought the death sentence against Farmer for killing the mother of three.

“No sentence will ever bring her back or erase the pain we live with every single day,” Tracey Walser, the mother of Kaylah Farmer, told the court last week, according to WTHR. “But a just sentence can help us begin to heal. It can allow us to finally take a step forward knowing that the person responsible has been held accountable.”

Kaylah’s sister Kassie Adkins testified that her sister’s “children will live with the reality that their father killed their mother,” according to the outlet.

“That will be the defining truth of their lives,” Adkins said. “Their story will forever start with tragedy that they did not choose and didn’t deserve.”

Alisha Landis, Kaylah’s other sister, addressed Farmer directly, according to WTHR.

“This is the last time you will be acknowledged by me or by anyone in our family,” Landis said. “Once this hearing is over, you will be erased from our lives. You have no children. You have no legacy. The boys you once knew do not speak your name and they never will. I will spend the rest of my life making sure you are forgotten. Gone. Bye bye. You will have no power here, not over me, not over Kaylah’s children.”

A month prior to the June 2023 killing, prosecutors said Farmer punched and choked his ex-wife in front of their children. During the incident, Farmer held a gun to his ex-wife’s head and demanded she “choose between herself” and her child, WTHR previously reported, citing court documents. The child also told police that their mother attempted to call 911 but their father had “taken her phone from her.”

One month later, Farmer followed his ex-wife to a local gas station and shot her 15 times through her car window while she waited at a gas pump. His sentencing last week reflected charges from both incidents, according to WTHR.

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Farmer did not provide a statement in court last week with his ex-wife’s family and friends sitting in the courtroom, according to the outlet. 

“I don’t have anything to say,” he said.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.