MADISON COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18)– Rodney Elam was in the Madison County court for a preliminary hearing Wednesday afternoon.
Detective Matthew Kenney with the Berea Police Department gave more details on how Elam brought 18-year-old Sarah Boyken into the McDonald’s in the early morning hours of January 8.
“He is carrying her with his right arm under her armpits, her shoulder and at that time her head is completely limp and facing towards the ground,” said Kenney.
Police say Elam took Boyken into the bathroom and then waited more than 30 minutes to ask for help.
“She had sustained liver, kidney damage and neurological damage from the lack of oxygen to her brain,” said Kenney.
Elam’s defense attorney focused on the drug charge against him, arguing that there is no allegation that he forced Boyken to use Methamphetamine, which police say was in her system when she was taken to the hospital.
Judge Earl Ray Neal was more interested in other facts of the case.
“You probably want to speak to the wantonness of the conduct of allegedly leaving a completely incapacitated alleged victim in a public restroom for a period of time of about 38 minutes prior to asking for medical treatment. That’s what I’m mostly concerned about,” said Neal.
The defense said that they will wait to address that. Judge Neal sent the case to the Grand Jury.
Since Boyken had passed away since Elam’s bond was first set, Judge Neal also increased Elam’s bond to $100,000.
