Bond hearing held for mother accused of complicity in death of daughter

Apr. 25—WHITLEY COUNTY — A hearing was held in regard to the bond of Alexandra Ward on Wednesday morning at the Whitley County Judicial Center.

Ward, 21, of Corbin, stands accused of complicity to murder and complicity to strangulation in regard to the February 2023 death of her 3-year-old daughter Amoura Smallwood.

At Wednesday's proceedings, the defense asked Whitley County Circuit Court Judge Paul Winchester to lower the bond of Ward on the grounds that she lacked "mens rea," or the intention/knowledge to comply with the acts committed on her daughter.

Jordan Blake Taylor, 23, of Corbin, has been given a trial date in March of 2026 in Whitley County for charges of Murder, Strangulation, and Sodomy for purportedly murdering and sexually assaulting Smallwood.

He was also charged in August of 2023 in a separate case where he is accused of strangling his own infant son to death in Manchester in July 2020.

The hearing for Ward was held because the defense filed a motion for a bond hearing, hoping to have her bond lowered.

The prosecution was given the opportunity to present a portion of their case against Ward to prove the reasonableness of her bond.

Whitley County Commonwealth's Attorney Ronnie Bowling called Kentucky State Police Detective Logan Gay to the stand to begin the hearing.

Gay testified that when he arrived at Baptist Health Corbin's emergency room on February 19, 2023, Smallwood had already succumbed to her injuries. Following this, Gay, along with other law enforcement officials, obtained the cellphones of Ward and Taylor — who were dating at the time — and requested that an autopsy be done on Smallwood.

The data from both Ward's and Taylor's cellphones were collected by the Kentucky State Police Electronic Crimes Division and compiled by the Richmond-based crime lab.

The data from the cellphones, which included both photo/video and text messages, revealed a disturbing pattern of behavior from both Taylor and Ward.

According to Detective Gay, and the text messages displayed in the courtroom, Ward had been warned by various individuals about Taylor's criminal past and his alleged involvement in the untimely death of his son.

Google search history from Ward's phone also demonstrated that she had searched for Taylor's criminal history on multiple occasions, which revealed that Taylor had been arrested 14 times for various offenses at the time.

Despite knowing Taylor for less than one month, according to testimony, Ward ultimately dismissed the warnings and moved him into her Corbin home where she lived with her two infant daughters.

The text messages also indicated that Taylor had assaulted Ward on at least one occasion, after which she could be seen texting Taylor to ask him to not do so anymore and to assure him that she loved him.

However, Taylor responded to this by warning Ward to no longer question him and that he was no longer going to watch Smallwood because she "cries too much."

On multiple occasions, Taylor openly told Ward that he struck Smallwood "too hard" and that she was covered in bruises and other marks.

Ward responded to Taylor by telling him that they must find a way to cover the bruises and other marks before they went car shopping with Ward's mother and prior to going on vacation.

Ward's google search history also showed that she had searched extensively online for methods to "make bruises go away quickly" and "how to make red marks go away."

Taylor also sent Ward a text that said "I killed him," purportedly in reference to his son, and other messages which stated that he had also assaulted his ex, threatening Ward with violence.

On February 17, two days prior to Smallwood's death, a video was taken on the phone of Taylor which showed him smothering the infant with his hand.

The video was played in the courtroom. Smallwood can be seen and heard gasping for air and crying in the video.

At this point in time, it could be seen in the video that Smallwood already had multiple injuries on her face, including a gash on her nose.

Two days later, on February 19, Ward could be seen texting Taylor multiple times to no response from approximately 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Smallwood's autopsy imparted to law enforcement the exact extent of the abuse that she suffered prior to her death.

Smallwood suffered from internal brain bleeds; hand, foot, and mouth disease; bite marks on her limbs, bruises on essentially every part of her body, ruptured gums from severe strangulation, and a torn anal cavity indicating sexual assault.

Her death certificate attributed her death primarily to blunt force trauma and strangulation.

The images displayed of Smallwood's battered body caused many in the courtroom to turn their heads.

Ward was weeping as the images were displayed.

At the conclusion of testimony, Commonwealth's Attorney Bowling noted that "this is the worst case I have ever seen."

In their cross examination of Det. Gay, the defense asked the KSP officer if he had determined that the IP address of Ward's phone had been matched across the various dates when she was communicating with Taylor.

However, Judge Winchester sustained an objection from Bowling which argued that Gay was not an expert on such matters and therefore should not be made to speculate.

The defense asked for a bond that Ward's family could afford in the form of a $150,000 property bond. Ward's defense attorney argued in favor of this bond by stating "(Ward) is not Jordan Taylor," and that Ward did not actively participate in the crime so she should not have the same bond as Taylor.

Ultimately, the defense's argument for a lowered bond did not persuade Judge Winchester, who subsequently denied the motion for a lowered bond.

"Based on what we have seen here today," the judge said, "there is a legitimate risk of the defendant not coming back to court if a lowered bond is given."

Ward was remanded to the custody of the Whitley County Detention Center, where she will remain in lieu of a $1 million bond.