Holly Rutledge, 30, also known as Holly Hardesty, is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the March 29, 2015 death of 5-year-old Lucas Dillon, of Whitwell, Tenn. Nearly 11 months after the death of a 5-year-old boy in Whitwell, Tenn., the child’s grandfather, Michael Dillon, is adamant the child was murdered by a woman currently sitting in the Marion County jail.
It was a Saturday in March 2015 when Michael picked up his son, Nathan, to take him to work at Westrock in Jasper and left little Lucas Dillon with Nathan’s girlfriend, Holly Rutledge.
Lucas yelled after his daddy on his way to the car, but Nathan told him to go inside and “wake up Holly.”
But after only a couple hours, Michael received a call from Rutledge saying something had happened to Lucas.
He dropped everything and sped off for Parkridge West Hospital in Jasper, where he found medical staff trying desperately to restart the boy’s heart with a defibrillator. The little boy had suffered blunt force trauma to his head and sustained serious injuries to his head, neck and shoulders.