By Fred Petke

Karen Caudill bared her soul and her pain Thursday afternoon as she confronted three young men charged with her daughter Amber’s death almost two years ago.

“I just wanted everybody to know she wasn’t a case,” Caudill told defendants Lamont Wilkerson, Aaron Stailey and Christopher Robinson in Clark Circuit Court before they were sentenced. “She wasn’t just another victim. She was 19. She didn’t have any say in what happened to her. She didn’t have a clue.”

Amber Caudill was in a downstairs apartment in a complex at 250 Oxford Drive on Dec. 23, 2014. In the apartment above, the three men tried to force their way into an apartment for a robbery. When shots were fired, a bullet went through the floor and into the downstairs apartment, killing Amber Caudill.

The three pleaded guilty in September, following a felony mediation session, in Clark Circuit Court. Robinson was sentenced to a total of 30 years for murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree assault and second-degree assault. Wilkerson and Stailey pleaded to complicity to all four counts and were sentenced to 27 and 25 years, respectively.

None of the three spoke during their hearing, though Stailey’s attorney shared his remorse over the situation.

A fourth defendant, the alleged getaway driver Lillian Barnett, is awaiting trial in January.

“She was so outgoing,” Karen Caudill said of her daughter. “She loved everybody. No one was a stranger to her. She would help anybody. That’s what you took from this earth because you made the decision you made.

“I will never get that back again. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to her.”

Police said the three men

See OXFORD, A3

planned to steal marijuana from Justin Meadows, who lived in the apartment complex. When the three pleaded guilty recently, they said they went in the apartment building while Barnett waited in the car. When Meadows opened the door, they pushed Robinson inside, who was armed. Robinson and Meadows exchanged shots. Meadows told police he fired once and hit Robinson in the chest. Police said Wilkerson and Stailey ran when the shots began.

Meadows and another person in the apartment, Crayvone Ritchie, were both injured.

Stailey said previously they took Robinson to Clark Regional Medical Center before he was taken back to Richmond, where he disposed of the weapons.

Contact Fred at fred.petke@winchestersun.com.