Months before being charged with murder and kidnapping, Kathy Michelle Coy had been telling people she was pregnant, according to Coy’s former brother-in-law, Wayne Childress II.

Coy, 33, of Morgantown, was charged Thursday with kidnapping a minor and with murdering Jamie Stice, 21, according to Warren Circuit Court records. Stice, of Bowling Green, was pregnant.

“I was extremely shocked,” Childress, of Glasgow, said Monday. “It’s hard to believe that anybody could do something like that, much less somebody you know.”

Coy introduced herself to Stice on Facebook about three weeks ago, telling Stice that she was also pregnant and that she was a relative of one of Stice’s friends, according to Stice’s mother, Jeannie Stice of Bowling Green. Before their Facebook contact, the two women had never met.

A preliminary autopsy report from the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner lists Jamie Stice’s cause of death as “multiple homicidal sharp force injuries,” Warren County Coroner Kevin Kirby said. Kirby pronounced Stice dead at the scene. Jamie Stice’s body was found early Thursday in a wooded area off U.S. 68-Ky. 80 in the Oakland community.

At about 6 p.m. Wednesday, Coy showed up at The Medical Center with a baby that she claimed she had given birth to, according to court records. Medical personnel called the Kentucky State Police about a “suspicious birth,” according to a statement from the state police.

Jamie Stice’s baby boy, Isaiah Allen Stice Reynolds, was being treated at The Medical Center, Jeannie Stice said. He was not injured during his mother’s death, but he was born prematurely. Jamie’s due date was May 24.

Childress, who has been divorced from Coy’s sister, Vicky Childress, for about five years, remembers Coy as someone who often didn’t get along well with her sister.

Coy also is deaf but can read lips, he said.

No one answered the door Monday afternoon at Coy’s red-brick Morgantown home. A large dog inside peered out of one of the windows.

Kathy Coy and Shannon Coy are no longer married, but Shannon Coy still lists Kathy Coy as his wife on his Facebook page. Thurman Coy, who lives in Roundhill, called Kathy Coy his “ex” daughter-in-law and declined to comment about the case Monday.

Kathy Coy was married to George Allen Hardin from Oct. 3, 1997, to July 17, 2003, according to Warren Circuit Court Clerk records. They have a 13-year-old daughter. Kathy Coy also has a 14-year-old son. It is not clear from court records who fathered Kathy Coy’s oldest son. However, Hardin is not listed in the divorce decree as the boy’s father.

Kathy and George Hardin separated in November 2000 after Kathy Hardin was indicted on a second-degree assault charge, accused of stabbing George Hardin in the back, according to court records. That charge was dismissed the following year.

In 2002, Kathy Hardin was in court again, this time charged with theft by deception for passing a bad check for $381.81 to a Bowling Green store, according to court records. That charge was given a pretrial diversion on the condition that Kathy Hardin pay restitution of $100 a month until the check and the $20 returned check fee was paid in full.

In March 2002, Kathy’s sister, Vicky Childress, petitioned the court here for child support from Kathy, whose only income is a Social Security check. At that time, Vicky Childress was listed in court records as the legal guardian for Kathy’s children. Wayne Childress was in prison during this time period.

The civil child support case was dismissed in 2003.

Also in 2002, Kathy Hardin entered a guilty plea to disorderly conduct after Bowling Green police were called to her East Fourth Avenue home because she was “standing on the front porch screaming at her live-in boyfriend,” according to court records.

Coy was scheduled to be in court at 1 p.m. today for a preliminary hearing in the murder and kidnapping case against her. If convicted, she could face the death penalty.