WHITLEY COUNTY, Ky. (WYMT) - The search is over for a missing Laurel County girl, who officials say ran away from her foster parents.
"Of course they wanted to find her alive," said Colan Harrell, Whitley County Sheriff.
Friday night sheriff?s deputies searched an area in the Bee Creek Community, when they came across the body of 16-year-old Kayly Lockaby.
"We don?t know how she died yet," said Harrell.
Officials say the last time Lockaby was seen was July 22, but deputies say when they found her body, it had been there for two or three days.
"It had been partially decomposed," said Harrell.
Harrell says 21-year-old Skyler Barnett lived in a house just yards away from where Lockaby was found. They also believe Lockaby was there before she died.
Officials arrested Barnett for unlawful transaction of a minor. Police say they also found cocaine and drug paraphernalia in the home.
?Well this is the initial stages of the investigation."
"It is kind of a shocker to walk up on someone even though you are a police officer. To walk on to someone that is in this state."
As of now, officials are investigating leads into Lockaby?s death. Barnett is lodged at the Whitley County Detention Center.
Skyler Barnett declined to speak to us from the Whitley County Detention Center.
Sheriff's deputies have not charged him with murder at this time.
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According to the Whitley County Sheriff's Office, the body of a female was located in the Bee Creek area Friday.
Laurel County sheriff's deputies said the body was identified as Kayly Lockaby, 16.
Lockaby was reported missing earlier in the week by her foster parent. Police were also searching for Skyler Barnett, 21, of Corbin. According to arrest records, he was lodged in the Whitley County Detention Center around 3:00 a.m. Saturday. Whitley County sheriff's deputies charged him with Unlawful Transaction with a Minor and also Possession of Heroin and paraphernalia.
The remains will be sent to Frankfort for examination by the state?s medical examiner?s office.
No other information is available at this time. The investigation is ongoing.
Mug shot
https://jailtracker.com/JTClientWeb/...jpg?FullSize=1
http://www.wymt.com/content/news/Fem...cebook_WYMT-TV
Skyler Barnett
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010869396009
Kayly Lockaby
https://www.facebook.com/people/Kayl...00012459332741
Her other Facebook page that's not active that he's on
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php...friends.search