On the early morning of Saturday, December 13, 2025, 31-year-old Stephanie Stacey Whitnel was shot inside KC’s Bar and Grill in the 3500 block of Park Plaza Drive in Paducah, Kentucky. Paducah officers arrived after reported gunfire at about 3:14 a.m.; Whitnel suffered multiple gunshot wounds, was taken to a local hospital, and was later pronounced dead. The McCracken County Coroner identified her as a Paducah resident and noted she was a mother of two and a stepmother who worked in the restaurant and hospitality industry and graduated from Paducah Tilghman High School.

Investigators described the shooting as a targeted attack arising from a domestic dispute. Witnesses said a man entered the nightclub, confronted Whitnel, then opened fire and fled. Detectives identified 38-year-old Phillip S. Whitnel as the suspect; Illinois troopers stopped his vehicle in Franklin County, Illinois, hours later and took him into custody without further incident as Paducah sought his extradition on a murder charge connected to domestic violence.

Was anyone in Paducah at KC’s Bar and Grill that night who saw the confrontation or the suspect leaving the scene?