Virginia Susan Caudill was born on September 10, 1960, in Kentucky. She was the middle child of three. Her childhood was marked by dysfunction and instability—her father struggled with alcoholism and was often abusive, while her mother remained loving and supportive.

As a young girl, Virginia faced bullying for her weight, glasses, and slow learning pace. The rejection she felt early on followed her into adulthood, where she turned to alcohol and drugs to cope. By her 20s, she had developed severe substance use problems and resorted to prostitution to support herself.

Virginia married twice and had one biological daughter as well as an adopted son. Her life remained marked by poverty and addiction. She became engaged to Steven White, whose mother, Lonetta White, would later become her victim. But her drug use ultimately ended the engagement and forced her to leave the White family home.

By her late 30s, she had reconnected with an old acquaintance, Johnathan Goforth, who shared her dependence on drugs and petty crime. The two would soon join forces in a crime that brought them national notoriety.

On March 15, 1998, 73-year-old Lonetta White was home alone in Lexington, Kentucky. Virginia Caudill, desperate for money to buy drugs, returned to White’s house with Johnathan Goforth. According to evidence at trial, Caudill used her familiarity with the victim to gain access.

Once inside, Caudill and Goforth attacked White, bludgeoning her with a hammer. Medical examiners later testified that White endured at least 13 blows to the head, causing massive trauma and bleeding. In her last moments, she reportedly asked, “Why are you doing this to me?”

After killing her, Caudill and Goforth ransacked the house, stealing jewelry, guns, and a mink coat. They stuffed White’s body into the trunk of her own car, drove it to a secluded area, and set it on fire to destroy evidence.

White’s charred body was found in the burned car. Forensic analysis linked blood and DNA evidence to Caudill and Goforth. Investigators recovered stolen items, including the guns, from a river in Kentucky. Witnesses and jailhouse informants later testified that Caudill admitted to killing White over money.

Caudill fled Kentucky but was caught in New Orleans under the alias “Kelly Lyons” when a fellow inmate recognized her from America’s Most Wanted. Goforth was arrested in Mississippi weeks later.

During their trial in February 2000, both defendants blamed each other. Caudill claimed Goforth committed the murder while she was tied up in another room. Goforth insisted Caudill struck the fatal blows.

The jury was unconvinced. On February 17, 2000, they convicted both of first-degree murder, robbery, burglary, arson, and tampering with evidence. The same day, jurors recommended the death penalty. In court, Caudill wept, asking for mercy, but Judge John Adams upheld the sentence on March 24, 2000.

The case was historically significant in Kentucky. It marked the first time White defendants were sentenced to death for the murder of a Black victim. Caudill also became the only woman on Kentucky’s death row at the time.

Over the next 20 years, Caudill exhausted all appeals. Courts at the state and federal levels rejected her claims of innocence and due process violations. In January 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court denied her final appeal.

As of 2025, she remains on death row in the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women. If executed, she will be the first woman put to death by Kentucky since 1868.