A Kentucky judge and jury have shut the door for good on the 2016 murder of Yul Rayford, a 51-year-old Bardstown man who was shot inside his car on Bloomfield Road in Washington County. Bryson Sleet received a directed verdict of acquittal from the judge on the fifth day of trial on Tuesday, while a jury separately found co-defendant Taron Sanders not guilty of the same murder and robbery charges. Both dismissals came with prejudice, closing the case against both men in Kentucky courts.
WLKY reports that the trial, which began the week before Tuesday, involved murder and robbery charges against Sleet and Sanders. The outlet reported that Rayford died at a hospital in Louisville after being shot inside his vehicle on Bloomfield Road in Washington County.
How Rayford Was Found in 2016
According to WHAS11, a landowner tending to property along Bloomfield Road discovered Rayford slumped over in the driver's seat of a running vehicle with a gunshot wound to his head on the morning of June 14, 2016. He was rushed to University of Louisville Hospital, where he was pronounced dead later that same day, per K105.
Rayford was born in Compton, California, and had worked as an employee at automotive parts manufacturer INOAC, according to an obituary published by Barlow Funeral Home. He was 51 years old and living in Bardstown at the time of his death.
Cold Case Reopened Nearly Eight Years Later
Kentucky State Police Post 15 in Columbia publicly renewed its appeal for information in February 2024, when the case was nearly eight years old, identifying Detective Dexter Colvin and saying the department reexamines cold cases, according to the Kentucky State Police. The renewed appeal was also reported by Middlesboro News, which covered the department's fresh call for tips.
A Washington County grand jury indicted Sleet in June 2024 on murder and robbery charges, according to the Washington County Sheriff's Office. Sanders was charged with murder and robbery in Rayford's death, per WLKY's report on the case.
Sleet had previously been sentenced in U.S. District Court on April 18, 2024, to 66 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The Washington County case is addressed elsewhere in this article.
Trial Collapses on Its Fifth Day
The trial got underway the week before Tuesday, and by its fifth day the judge determined the Commonwealth had not produced sufficient evidence against Sleet, per WLKY's account. The court ruled that any guilty verdict against Sleet would have rested on speculation, guess or conjecture rather than admissible evidence, prompting the directed verdict of acquittal.
A jury reached its own conclusion, finding Sanders not guilty of the identical murder and robbery charges he faced in Rayford's death, WLKY reported. The two verdicts were reported in connection with the trial.
No Path Back to Court Under Double Jeopardy
A directed verdict of acquittal was entered after the Commonwealth failed to produce sufficient admissible evidence against Sleet. The ruling reflected the court's conclusion that the evidence against him was insufficient.
WLKY reported that prosecutors cannot refile the same charges against either Sleet or Sanders.
A Case Rooted in Two Counties
The investigation involved Kentucky State Police Post 15 in Columbia, and the case later went before a Washington County grand jury. Rayford had lived in Bardstown, according to his obituary. Nearly a decade after his death, the case against Sleet and Sanders is now legally closed, but Rayford's killing remains unsolved with no one held responsible.
