Lila Asher accompanied Jadeance Hale for support before investigators say Hale’s boyfriend shot both women and himself.
PINEVILLE, Ky. — Two young women remembered by relatives as inseparable friends were buried after back-to-back services June 14, eight days after police found them fatally shot inside a car with the man investigators say killed them.
Jadeance Ann Marie Hale, 18, had planned to end her relationship with 21-year-old James Priddy, according to police accounts reported by Kentucky news outlets. Her friend, 19-year-old Kira Lila Hope Asher, accompanied her to provide support. The Laurel County Sheriff’s Office said all indications were that Priddy shot both women and then killed himself. Officers discovered the three bodies after a pursuit that began in Knox County and ended on Kentucky Route 312 in southern Laurel County.
The funeral schedule showed how closely the families connected Hale and Asher even after their deaths. Arnett & Steele Funeral Home in Pineville held Asher’s service at 11 a.m. June 14. Hale’s service followed at 12:30 p.m. The women were then taken to Ketchum Cemetery in Bryants Store for burial. A fundraising page established for their funeral costs said the friends shared a deep bond and that their relatives wanted to honor their wish to remain together. The arrangements turned a detail from the police investigation, that Asher joined Hale during a difficult breakup, into the central fact of how the women were publicly remembered.
Miranda Hamilton, identified by WKYT as Asher’s sister, said the women had grown up alongside each other and were best friends. Hale’s obituary described Asher as family and called her Hale’s “bestest friend.” It also remembered Hale as someone with a large smile who could make people laugh. She loved spending time with her younger sister, the obituary said. Asher’s obituary identified her as the daughter of Allison Asher and listed the relatives who survived her. The accounts focused on their lives and relationships rather than the violent circumstances in which they died.
The events of June 6 began with what relatives understood to be a trip to get food. The Laurel County Sheriff’s Office said Hale, Asher and Priddy left a residence in Barbourville. Their parents later became concerned. Law enforcement received a report of a possible domestic violence situation involving a red Chevrolet Cobalt. Local reports said an unplanned stop connected to Priddy increased the concern and that relatives learned the women were not being allowed to leave. Authorities have not released every call or message that passed among the women, their relatives and police.
A mother contacted 911 crying and said her daughter and another young woman were in a vehicle with a man who would not let them out, according to dispatch audio reported by WKYT and other outlets. A dispatcher relayed that there was proof a woman had been trying to leave the man throughout the day. The dispatcher then said the man had driven away with her. The reports did not publicly identify the caller in every account, and police did not release a full transcript. The available audio nevertheless gave officers information that the women might be in danger before they found the Chevrolet.
At approximately 10:45 p.m., Barbourville police located the car. The driver failed to stop, the sheriff’s office said, and officers pursued it from Knox County into neighboring Laurel County. Police tried to box in the Chevrolet on Kentucky Route 312. The car struck another vehicle and came to a stop. When officers approached to check the occupants, they found Hale, Asher and Priddy dead from gunshot wounds. Barbourville Police Sgt. Karl Middleton said an officer went to the driver’s side and made the discovery.
The sheriff’s office identified Priddy as the suspected shooter. It said all indications showed that he killed Hale and Asher before killing himself. Hale and Asher were classified publicly as homicide victims, while Priddy’s death was described as self-inflicted. Authorities did not say in the initial reports exactly when the shots were fired. That left open whether the women were already dead when officers first found the Chevrolet or whether the shootings occurred during the pursuit. Police also did not disclose a detailed seating chart, the location of the firearm or a shot-by-shot reconstruction.
That uncertainty matters because Asher’s presence had a clear purpose. She was not described by investigators as part of the romantic dispute. Police and relatives said she was there to stand beside Hale while Hale tried to leave the relationship. No public statement accused either woman of threatening Priddy or committing a crime. The reported sequence instead placed both women in a dangerous situation after Hale communicated that she wanted the relationship to end. Asher’s decision to accompany her friend became the action that linked both families to the same crime scene and the same funeral home eight days later.
Authorities did not release a broader history of Hale’s relationship with Priddy. Public reports did not establish how long they had dated, whether previous police calls had involved them or whether Hale had sought a protective order. The sheriff’s office limited its initial account to the June 6 report, the pursuit and the evidence found in the car. Investigators said the case remained open, signaling that detectives were still reviewing records and physical evidence even though they had identified the person they believed was responsible.
The inquiry involved agencies across southeastern Kentucky. Barbourville police handled the first reported pursuit, and the Knox County Sheriff’s Office participated in the response. The Laurel County Sheriff’s Office became a lead agency after the Chevrolet stopped within Laurel County. Kentucky State Police and Corbin police also assisted. Ambulance, rescue, fire and emergency management personnel went to the scene. Their reports, radio traffic and video could help investigators align the family’s first call with the movement of the car and the discovery of the bodies.
Hale, who was born March 5, 2008, was from Flat Lick, according to official and obituary information. Asher, born Dec. 4, 2006, was from Lily. Priddy was identified as being from Bimble. Those communities are part of the rural and small-city landscape of southeastern Kentucky where the response moved through more than one law enforcement jurisdiction. The pursuit’s end on Route 312 placed the final crime scene outside the city where the original concern was reported.
The women’s families faced a different process from the one that usually follows a double homicide. Because Priddy died inside the car, there was no arrest, bond hearing or trial at which evidence could be tested in open court. The sheriff’s investigation and related death records were expected to provide the official explanation. Detectives could use phone records, emergency calls, vehicle evidence and police video to determine the timing of the shootings. The agency had not announced when a final report would be ready.
Acciardo, the sheriff’s office spokesman, said the scene also weighed on first responders. Officers had been looking for a moving car because relatives believed two women could not leave it. The pursuit ended not with the women being separated from the reported threat, but with the discovery that all three occupants had died. His comments placed the emergency workers among those affected while keeping the focus on the families who had lost Hale and Asher.
A separate fundraiser was established for Priddy’s family, which said relatives were struggling with his death. The women’s joint fundraiser, however, centered on two friends and the shared funeral arrangements. The separate memorial efforts reflected the findings police had announced: Hale and Asher were the victims, and Priddy was believed to have caused all three deaths.
With the services completed, the families’ public account remains rooted in the women’s friendship. Investigators continued working to supply the missing details of their final hours and had not announced a date for releasing a completed timeline.
Author note: Last updated July 10, 2026.