Kirby Carpenter Murder: Trial, Verdicts, and Estate Fight

The Kirby Carpenter murder ended with a life sentence for Jeffrey Spence, the father of Carpenter’s girlfriend, who shot the 36-year-old Mississippi precious metals dealer outside his home near Booneville on November 30, 2022. A Tippah County jury convicted Spence of first-degree murder on March 27, 2026, after an earlier trial ended in a hung jury. Spence’s wife and daughter, both charged in the aftermath, received suspended sentences.

Who Kirby Carpenter Was

Carpenter, born May 23, 1986, ran Mississippi Gold, Silver, and Coin Exchange and had owned and sold two other companies along with several rental properties. Court testimony described him as a successful serial entrepreneur whose estate was later valued at roughly $1.5 million.¹ His mother, Mattie Jane Jones, testified that he routinely carried a satchel holding between $200,000 and $300,000 in cash, silver, or gold.²

He met Caitlin Spence in 2020. Their daughter, Enola, was born in July 2022. At the time of the killing, Carpenter, Caitlin, baby Enola, and Carpenter’s son Townes were all living together in the Dry Creek community outside Booneville, and Caitlin’s parents, Jeffrey and Karen Spence, had traveled from Virginia and been staying at the home for about four months to help with the newborn.

How He Was Killed

Carpenter died from shotgun wounds to the neck and chest on November 30, 2022. His body was not found until December 2, when Caitlin Spence called 911 to report him missing and then discovered him outside near a shed. The body had been covered with a curtain, with a toolbox placed on top, and first responders followed drag marks from a pool of blood in the carport to where he lay.¹

Only $2,868 in cash was found on Carpenter, despite his habit of carrying far more. Prosecutors argued the motive was “money and greed.” Jeffrey Spence, then 67, was unemployed and had faced prior embezzlement charges dating to at least 2014.³ After his arrest, investigators recovered about $17,000 in cash from his vehicle, some of it wrapped in tin foil, along with a safety deposit box containing coins, cash, counterfeit money, and a check from Carpenter to an associate.

How the Spences Were Caught

The three Spences and baby Enola left Mississippi for Virginia on December 20, 2022. Caitlin eventually cut off contact with Carpenter’s family. When Carpenter’s sister asked Virginia law enforcement to check on the child at a Saltville address Caitlin had provided, officers found the house burned to the ground with only the mailbox standing.⁴

Arrests came exactly one year after the killing. On November 30, 2023, U.S. Marshals took Caitlin into custody in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, while the Smyth County, Virginia, Sheriff’s Office arrested Jeffrey and Karen in the Sugar Grove area, where they had been living for several months. Smyth County Sheriff Chip Shuler said “a new piece of evidence” broke the case open.⁵ In April 2024, a grand jury indicted all three on one count of conspiracy, two counts of larceny, and one count of capital murder.

The Case Against Jeffrey Spence

Investigators recovered a loaded shotgun wrapped in a blue jacket from under Jeffrey Spence’s bed at his Virginia home, along with a box containing six shells. The medical examiner tied Carpenter’s death to shotgun wounds. Security cameras at both Carpenter’s home and the Spence property had been disabled before the killing, and there was no forced entry. Prosecutors said Jeffrey knew where a spare key was hidden because Caitlin had told him.

Caitlin Spence, having pleaded guilty to accessory in exchange for her testimony, told the jury her father confessed to killing Carpenter after returning to Mississippi to deliver a package of drugs he intended for Carpenter to resell. She testified that months earlier he had floated naming a hypothetical business “Assassin Inc.” and told her, “You find the talent and I will run the business… I’m too old to spend a lot of time in prison.” She said he had also stated he would use a shotgun if he ever killed someone because it takes only one shot and the cartridges are easier to dispose of. After the murder, she said, he warned her to “keep her mouth shut or risk losing her daughter.”²

Jeffrey Spence’s other daughter, Carolyn Aguayo, called her parents “Bonnie and Clyde,” testified that she came from a “criminal family,” and said the Spences routinely “spoke in code.” She corroborated the shotgun remark and said her father watched crime dramas like Breaking Bad and The Blacklist. She also testified that he cut a security camera cord at her Virginia home and that tools and legal documents disappeared during his visits.³

Defense attorney David Hill portrayed Carpenter as an abusive drug dealer with dangerous enemies, pointing to documented conflicts with two business associates, Ray Palmer and David Hancock, as alternative sources of motive. Caitlin acknowledged on cross-examination that Carpenter had also dealt drugs.

Mistrial and Conviction

Jeffrey Spence’s first trial began in September 2025 in Tippah County Circuit Court before Judge Kelly Luther. On September 29, 2025, after more than four hours of deliberation, the jury reported it was deadlocked six to six and did not believe further deliberation would change the outcome. Judge Luther declared a mistrial. Carpenter’s mother collapsed in the courtroom upon hearing the news; paramedics were called and she was later reported to be okay.⁶

District Attorney Ben Creekmore set the retrial for the first quarter of 2026 and added new testimony, including from a witness named Tracy Delp connected to a van. On March 27, 2026, the second jury found Jeffrey Spence guilty of first-degree murder. He was acquitted of the more serious capital murder charge and of manslaughter. Judge Luther imposed the mandatory sentence of life in prison immediately after the verdict.⁷

Caitlin and Karen Spence’s Sentences

Karen Spence entered a guilty plea on September 19, 2025, one day before her jury selection was scheduled. Under an Alford plea, she pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to grand larceny, acknowledging sufficient evidence existed for a conviction without admitting the act. Prosecutors alleged she helped her husband secure valuable items from Carpenter’s property after the murder. She received ten years in prison, suspended in full, with five years of unsupervised probation, GPS monitoring, drug testing, a requirement to remain in Mississippi, and $694.50 in court costs.⁸

Caitlin Spence had entered her plea in April 2025, admitting she knew her father had killed Carpenter but did not immediately report it. On March 30, 2026, three days after her father’s conviction, Judge Luther sentenced her to 20 years with credit for the 16 months already served, suspended the remainder, and placed her on five years of probation. In court, she said she had waited for her father to “step up and accept responsibility,” adding, “I thought he was going to come forward and do the right thing. But as things went on, it became obvious that he was not going to come forward and clear my mother and me.” She said her decision to cooperate was driven by her daughter, noting she had been incarcerated longer than she had been able to raise Enola.⁹

The Estate Battle

Carpenter’s roughly $1.5 million estate became a fight of its own. His mother was appointed administratrix, but multiple people, including members of the Spence family, removed items from the home in the weeks after his death, prompting the estate attorney, Bart Adams, to direct everyone to return items for a proper inventory.¹

Estate property was moved to a Mississippi National Guard vault for safekeeping. In January 2023, the vault was broken into, with windows damaged and power cut, though Adams testified nothing was ultimately stolen. The items were relocated to Adams’ law office, which was burglarized the same night; Adams told the court “almost everything” was taken, with losses estimated between $3,000 and $4,000. No one has been publicly charged in either break-in. Jeffrey Spence reportedly purchased a home in Venango County, Pennsylvania, with cash shortly before his arrest.⁴

1
Court TV. MS v. Jeffrey Spence: Plotting Father Murder Trial
2
Court TV. Caitlin Spence Testifies Against Dad but Still Admits Victim Dealt Drugs
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Court TV. Jeffrey Spence’s Daughter: Dad Said He’d Kill With a Shotgun
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Gant News. Three Former Area Residents Indicted in Murder of Mississippi Businessman Kirby Carpenter
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WCYB. Smyth County Sheriff’s Office Arrests Two for Murder of a Mississippi Man
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Yahoo News. Jury Hung, Mistrial Declared in Jeffrey Spence Case
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Court TV. Jeffrey Spence Convicted of Murdering Daughter’s Boyfriend
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Gant News. Karen Spence Pleads Guilty to Accessory in Carpenter Case, Gets Suspended Sentence
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Daily Journal. Caitlin Spence Given Suspended Sentence for Part in Boyfriend’s Murder