Corbin's mother, who is charged in connection with her daughter's death, speaks out from prison

WHITLEY COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) – Two people are in jail accused in the death of a 10-year-old in southern Kentucky.

Police say a Corbin man was drunk while riding a moped on I-75. His girlfriend's daughter was with him and died from injuries she sustained in a crash with a Kia SUV.

The girl's mother is charged with complicity. She speaks to WKYT from prison.

Danisha Martin has to come to terms with the death of her ten-year-old daughter, while at the same time the police accuse her of complicity in the murder.

“It's hard because I think, 'It's summer and there are kids younger than her on mopeds.' I don't think, 'This is dangerous. Something is going to happen,'” Martin said from the Whitley County Jail.

On Sunday, August 4, Martin's friend Darius Wade was drunk when the moped he and Martin's daughter were riding crashed on I-75, according to police.

According to police, court documents say Martin claimed she knew about Wade's drinking problem, but she told WKYT that her daughter was safe to go out with him.

“I just think, 'She's going to have fun. She trusts him.' And she's been through a lot in her ten years. It took her a while to start trusting men again.”

Police said Martin knew Wade had consumed three beers before an event on the 4th and then three more during that event. Police said they and firefighters detected the odor of alcohol on him while working at the scene of the crash near the 26-mile marker in Corbin.

“When my children and I came home that night, he was not drunk. He was not acting drunk. I spend time with him and I know the difference between being sober and being drunk. When he left the house, he was not drunk.”

Wade was treated for injuries sustained in the crash, then arrested and charged with drunken driving and murder. Martin says her daughter had a close relationship with him.

“And he was a person she trusted. She wanted to stay home with him. When I had to go to work, she wanted to stay with him. She didn't want to go to her Ray-Ray. Not to her grandma. She wanted to stay home. Eventually she started calling him daddy.”

The 10-year-old was scheduled to attend 5th grade at Hunter Hills Elementary School in Corbin this year.

Darius Wade said he did not want to speak to WKYT from prison.

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