Woman jailed for 50 years for murder of pregnant roommate who she wanted to ‘feel the pain of miscarriage’

Casey Kennedy confessed to killing Kelly Holder and her unborn child in Texas in August 2019 along with two accomplices

Casey Kennedy is pictured in her booking photo following her arrest for murder (Taylor County Jail)

A woman has been jailed for 50 years for the brutal murder of her pregnant roommate and her unborn child who she attacked so she would “feel the pain of miscarriage”.

Casey Kennedy, 27, entered an open plea to a murder charge in the beating death of 24-year-old Kelly Holder in Abilene, Texas, back in August 2019.

She was sentenced on Friday to spend half a century in state prison.

Kennedy was part of a murderous trio together with Alexander Christopher Lopez and Courtney Dawn Whitley who each confessed to savagely beating, strangling and sexually assulting the expectant mother.

The killers told investigators they carried out the attack because they blamed Ms Holder for Whitley recently suffering a miscarriage, authorities said.

They also claimed to believe that the 24-year-old was letting men into their house while they slept so that they could rape Kennedy and Whitley.

On 3 August 2019, police were called to a home on the 1700 block of South Fifth Street in Taylor County, reported Abilene Reporter News.

They arrived on the scene to find Ms Holder unresponsive.

She was rushed to hospital where both she and her unborn child were pronounced dead.

The autopsy revealed her cause of death to be traumatic blunt force injuries and asphyxiation.

She had also suffered a vicious sexual assault with a large object being “forced in her rectum”.

She was about six weeks pregnant at the time.

At first, the three accomplices denied having any knowledge of her death.

But their stories quickly unraveled and they soon confessed to being “angry” with Ms Holder.

Investigators said the trio attacked her on 2 August when she refused to admit responsibility for Whitley’s miscarriage.

They said they wanted her to “feel the pain of a miscarriage” and repeatedly kicked and punched her in the torso, chest and pelvis.

All three also admitted to strangling Ms Holder while Whitley told investigators she “bounced up and down” on her stomach.

After the savage beating, the group sexually assaulted Ms Holder with a “wooden rod”.

As part of Kennedy’s plea agreement, an unrelated charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child under the age of six was dropped.

Whitley and Lopez had also reached a plea agreement to enter open pleas in the case back in August.

Whitley also received a 50-year prison sentence in October while Lopez is awaiting sentencing.