Friend remembers Arizona woman killed at hotel in Kentucky
Amanda Dakota Webster came to Erlanger, Kentucky, to work. It was a contract job doing mechanical work, mostly night shift, for General Electric.
Home was Cameron, a town of less than 1,000 people on the Navajo reservation in northern Arizona, 32 miles east of the Grand Canyon.
The 26-year-old left behind what was most precious to her: three sons, 10, 2 and 3 months. She worked as a traveling contractor in construction to provide for them and looked forward to a time she could be a stay-at-home mom.
That was her dream, according to her best friend, Keevana Dan. It ended with Webster’s death in a Florence hotel room Dec. 2.
Amanda and Keevana met at Coconino High School in Flagstaff in their sophomore year.
“She was always there for me. And I was always there for her,” Dan said. “She was my sister. My person. I can’t believe this has happened.”
Amanda, born on Christmas Eve, 1991, was like a sister to Keevana Dan. She was maid of honor when Keevana married. The pair traveled together for work and roomed together when on the road. “She suggested the Kentucky job, and I agreed,” Dan said. “We worked hard. And she was so much fun.”
Dan describes her friend as fierce. Proud. Independent. A provider for her children. An optimist. “She never got discouraged. She was a good person. A real good person.”
She says her best friend was smart. “We always said ‘Stranger-Danger.’ We don’t talk to people we don’t know,” she said. “That’s why this blows my mind. She would never do that.”
The pair worked a 3 p.m. to 4 a.m. night shift. Dan said it was early Dec. 2 when Amanda said she was going down to the firepit at the Home2 Suite Hilton in Florence, Kentucky, where they roomed next to each other.
“It was probably 5 or 6 in the morning. Before she left, she gave me a hug and kissed my forehead. “She said I love you and she left. I went to sleep.”
When Dan woke, she went to see if Amanda was hungry. There were police at the hotel but no sign of Amanda. Dan tried calling and texting her friend. No response.
“I realized her wallet, shoes, and jacket were still there. I was worried,” Dan said. “I went to the front desk and said my sister was missing.”
She said police asked if she had a picture. She did. After looking at it, they sent her back to her hotel room and said they would come and talk with her. When they did, they had a picture of a tattoo. It was Amanda’s.
“They told me my best friend was murdered that morning. I saw photos. I identified her.”
A 32-year-old man with a history of mental illness is accused in Amanda’s murder. Police arrested Jesse James of Burlington, Kentucky, charging him with murder, tampering with evidence, theft of identity and providing false identifying information.
He confessed Dec. 2, police said. “I killed her and I meant it,” he told the detective, according to the police report. On Dec. 3, he pleaded not guilty according to the Associated Press and is being held on a $1 million bond.
Dan said no one knows where, when, and especially why Amanda crossed paths with her killer.
Dan headed to share what happened with Amanda’s family. She carried Amanda’s belongings in her car, driving almost 1,800 miles home alone. A GoFund Me account was set up to pay to bring Amanda’s body back to Arizona and pay for funeral expenses. She said any remaining money will go to Amanda’s sons.