Murder in the Heartland on ID: Where is Stanley Dishon now?

The 1999 murder of Jessica Dishon led to years of investigation and a mistrial before it led the Bullitt County officials to her uncle, Stanley Dishon. The 17-year-old from Shepherdsville, Kentucky went missing for 17 days as she was allegedly abducted from her driveway on September 10, 1999.

Her body was discovered seven miles away from her home in Salt River bottoms. As the case turned cold for over a decade, a tip from a prison inmate led to Stanley's conviction in 2013. He was sentenced to 20 years, which he is serving at the Kentucky State Penitentiary, with a possibility of parole in 16 years.

The Murder In The Heartland episode, titled Family or Feud, which airs on May 1, 2024, at 9 pm EST on Investigation Discovery, showcases the investigation into Jessica Dishon's murder which led to the conviction of her uncle, Stanley Dishon, in 2015.

"After teenager Jessica Dishon is murdered in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, police must sort through her past relationships, jealous friends, and an old family feud to find the killer."

Disclaimer: The article has mentions of s*xual assault and violence. Reader discretion is advised.

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Stanley Dishon was arrested after a tip from a prison informant

Jessica Dishon had reportedly been abducted from her car in the driveway of her Shepherdsville home on September 10, 1999. She was on her way to school that morning when she disappeared. Her purse, keys, and backpack were found in the red Pontiac, with her cellphone displaying 9 in the passenger's seat.

Jessica's body was found 17 days later at Greenwell Ford Road in the Salt River Bottoms by bus driver Karen Hobbs, per the Courier-Journal. The autopsy reports showed that she had been tortured, beaten, and strangled to death. The Bullitt County Sheriff's Office and FBI authorities later confirmed that she had been missing a foot and some of her fingers.

The investigators into the case pursued Jessica's neighbor, David Brooks, but reached a dead end when his case was declared a mistrial in 2003. However, Jessica Dishon's case was dug up a decade later as a tip from a prison informant at Oldham County turned Jessica's uncle Stanley Dishon into a suspect.

According to a WHAS report, a few tattered sheets were recovered from a barn a mile away from where Jessica's body was found. A pillowcase from the scene matched one of Jessica's. The prison inmates had mentioned an abandoned barn where Jessica was locked and tortured.

Stanley Dishon had been incarcerated on charges of sodomy due to s*xually assaulting a 12-year-old in 1982. According to CBS News, he had a long history of s*x offenses. Stanley had allegedly confessed to two inmates to s*xually assaulting Jessica, dismembering her, and killing her so that her parents would not find out.

While the authorities confronted Stanley about Jessica's murder, he denied it all but appeared to be in discomfort physically.

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Where is Stanley Dishon now?

As the account given by the inmates matched the evidence and Stanley's history of offenses, Dishon was put on trial for several charges including manslaughter. Louisville Detective Lynn Hunt performed a background check on Stanley, revealing dark secrets about his life.

He had reportedly assaulted the children of his siblings during his early years and resided with the Dishons from 1989 to 1996. The other women who he had s*xually assaulted chose to testify as well.

Stanley Dishon went for the Alford plea and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. However, he continues to maintain his innocence to this day. He is incarcerated at the Kentucky State Penitentiary.

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Catch episode 14 of the sixth season of Murder in the Heartland on Investigation Discovery on May 1, at 9 pm EST.