Upgraded charges in child torture case
Apr. 24—CATLETTSBURG — A Boyd County grand jury escalated charges against an Ashland couple on Tuesday as an ongoing investigation continues to reveal disturbing allegations after a young girl's escape from an alleged house of horrors in January.
Boyd County Circuit Judge George Davis increased the bail amount for Austin Adam Frazier, 27, and Kayla Marie Frazier, 32, to $1 million after the couple were slammed with a superseding indictment totaling nearly 40 felony charges related to the torture and abuse of a 9-year-old in their custody.
Per the indictment issued on Tuesday, Austin Frazier is now facing 20 total charges alone, including two counts of first-degree sexual abuse, female genital mutilation, animal cruelty, kidnapping and 13 counts of first-degree criminal child abuse.
The indictment specifies a portion of the sadistic sexual torture and physical abuse resulted in the child suffering multiple fractures and permanent disfigurement.
According to previous reports and court documents, the child managed to escape from the Fraziers' home on 43rd Street and sought the help of neighbors who called police.
Court records detail multiple examples of torment inside the home, including the child's hand forced on a stovetop, sexual abuse involving "pliers/vise grips" and confinement to a gun safe which was turned backwards against a wall to prevent her escape.
Kayla Frazier, who was arrested alongside Austin following the child's escape, now faces 18 total charges that imply she was just as active as she was complicit in the abuse of the girl.
Kayla Frazier's charges include two counts of complicity to first-degree sexual abuse, complicity to female genital mutilation, 11 counts of first-degree criminal child abuse, complicity to strangulation and second-degree animal cruelty.
Per court documents, Kayla Frazier is accused of being aware of the abuse the child was subjected to by Austin but also participated by "putting the child outside in extreme temperatures with little clothing," "hitting," "shaking" and "slapping" on multiple occasions.
Both the Fraziers are accused of subjecting the child to cruel punishment by forcing the girl to sleep on a hardwood floor with no bedding and forcing her to stand in a corner with her hands above her head "for hours."
The new indictment also includes charges of animal cruelty which accuse the pair of intentionally beating, kicking or injuring a dog.
The Fraziers are due in court this Friday, April 26.
They face several decades in prison, if convicted.
(606) 326-2652 — mjepling@dailyindependent.com
