 |
| Caitlin Spence: Where Is Kirby Carpenter’s Girlfriend Now? |
Caitlin Spence, the girlfriend of Mississippi businessman Kirby Carpenter, has largely stayed out of the public eye since receiving a 20-year prison sentence that was entirely suspended in March 2026. Instead of serving time behind bars, she was placed on five years of supervised probation after pleading guilty to being an accessory after the fact to capital murder.
Her case attracted attention because she reported finding Carpenter’s remains at their shared home in December 2022, before later testifying against her father, Jeffrey Spence, who was accused of killing him. NBC’s Dateline, in the episode The Betrayal of Kirby Carpenter, examines the investigation, the family relationships and the testimony that brought the case into focus. So, where is Caitlin now, and what happened after the court proceedings?
Caitlin’s story began long before the investigation reached the courtroom. Born in the late 1980s to Jeffrey and Karen Spence, she grew up alongside her younger sister, Carolyn. The family reportedly spent much of their time in Brookville, Pennsylvania, where Jeffrey owned a deer farm and Karen worked as a nurse at Clarion-Limestone High School.
Jeffrey’s 2005 theft conviction marked a difficult chapter in the family’s history, while Carolyn reportedly cut contact with their parents by the middle of the following decade. Family relationships are rarely straightforward, but this one would eventually become part of a criminal case with consequences extending far beyond the household.
By 2020, Caitlin had moved to Booneville, Mississippi, where she met Kirby Carpenter, a businessman from nearby Ripley. Their relationship developed, and the couple eventually settled together in the Dry Creek community outside Booneville. From the outside, they appeared to be building a family life, but the circumstances surrounding their relationship would later become a subject of testimony in court.
Caitlin subsequently alleged that Carpenter had subjected her to domestic abuse and claimed he was involved in drug sales, although she maintained that she had not participated in those activities. These were allegations presented in connection with the case, rather than a substitute for independently established findings. She and Carpenter welcomed their daughter, Enola, in July 2022. Carpenter’s son from an earlier relationship, Townes Carpenter, reportedly also lived at the property, making the household a busy family home before events took a tragic turn.
Caitlin’s parents, Jeffrey and Karen, arrived to stay with the couple after Enola’s birth. Their visit was reportedly expected to last only a few weeks, but they remained for approximately four months. It was a considerably longer stay than originally anticipated, although the significance of their presence would become clearer only after investigators began examining the events surrounding Carpenter’s death.
On 29 November 2022, Jeffrey and Karen left Mississippi for Virginia. Three days later, on 2 December, Caitlin called the police at around 12.30pm to report finding Carpenter’s remains near the garage of the property she shared with him. Carpenter had died from a gunshot wound. What began as a report about a death soon developed into an investigation that would involve Caitlin and both of her parents.
Caitlin initially spoke with investigators but reportedly hired lawyers within a week. By the end of December, she had moved to Virginia with her daughter and was staying with her parents in Saltville. Meanwhile, Carpenter’s estate was reportedly providing child support. His relatives later alleged that Caitlin had stopped communicating with them and said they encountered further difficulties when seeking a welfare check on Enola.
According to the family’s account, they subsequently learnt that the Virginia house had been destroyed by fire. Public records also indicated that Jeffrey had purchased a property in Pinegrove Township, Pennsylvania. These details added further questions to an already complicated situation, although they do not, by themselves, establish responsibility for any wrongdoing.
The investigation took a significant turn in November 2023, when detectives received a tip alleging that Caitlin had confessed to someone that her father had killed Carpenter. By then living in Brookville, Pennsylvania, she was arrested and charged with conspiracy, two counts of larceny and capital murder. The allegations placed her at the centre of the investigation, even as the question of her precise role remained a key issue.
In April 2025, Caitlin accepted a plea deal, pleading guilty to the reduced charge of accessory after the fact to capital murder. As part of the agreement, she agreed to testify against her co-defendants. Her lawyers maintained that although she knew about Carpenter’s death, she had not participated in the killing itself. She spent approximately 16 months in custody before being released on bond while awaiting the completion of her testimony in the other proceedings.
During Jeffrey Spence’s trial in September 2025, Caitlin took the witness stand and described what she said happened after her parents left Mississippi. According to her testimony, Jeffrey returned to the state after 29 November 2022 and told her to keep quiet. She also claimed that he warned her she could lose custody of Enola if she revealed what had happened. These statements formed part of her account to the court and were important to understanding the prosecution’s case against her father.
Caitlin also addressed where she was around the time Carpenter was believed to have been killed. She maintained that she had been at work and had neither prior knowledge of nor involvement in the shooting. According to her testimony, she learnt about her father’s involvement later, when he confessed to the killing. She repeated her account during Jeffrey’s second trial in March 2026, again telling the court that he had admitted responsibility.
Later that month, Caitlin received a 20-year prison sentence. However, the court suspended the entire sentence, meaning she was not required to serve those 20 years in prison under the terms of her sentence. Instead, Mississippi placed her on five years of supervised probation. The distinction matters: a suspended sentence is not the same as being cleared of the offence, and probation comes with conditions that must be followed.
Where is Caitlin Spence now? Her current whereabouts and day-to-day circumstances have not been widely reported. Following her sentencing in March 2026, she largely withdrew from public attention, leaving little verified information about her present life.
There is no reliable public update establishing her current residence or detailing how she spends her time. What can be said is that her sentence placed her under supervised probation rather than requiring her to serve the full 20 years in prison. Any further claims about her private life would be speculation, and the absence of new headlines does not necessarily mean that nothing is happening behind the scenes.
Opinion: Caitlin Spence’s case raises difficult questions about accountability
What makes this case particularly striking is the gap between the severity of the original allegation and the outcome of Caitlin Spence’s sentencing. A 20-year sentence sounds substantial, but with the entire term suspended, the practical result is very different from a lengthy spell behind bars. Her agreement to testify against her father was clearly an important part of the proceedings, while her defence maintained that she did not take part in the killing.
Those details deserve careful consideration rather than an instant verdict from people following the story online. It is also worth remembering that court cases involving relatives can become emotionally complicated, especially when family members give conflicting accounts. The public may want a neat explanation, but real cases rarely offer one. For now, the fairest approach is to distinguish established court outcomes from allegations and unanswered questions. That is less dramatic than speculation, admittedly, but accuracy matters more than a tidy headline.
Caitlin Spence’s story remains closely tied to the investigation into Kirby Carpenter’s death, the testimony against Jeffrey Spence and the unusual circumstances of her suspended sentence. With her current whereabouts largely unknown, there is little confirmed information to add beyond the court proceedings and probation order. If you have followed the case, what do you think matters most when assessing Caitlin’s role: her plea agreement, her testimony or the sentence she received? Share your thoughts, while keeping the distinction between proven facts and allegations in mind.