Family of Lynnden Bray, witnesses, still searching for answers about her death at the Jefferson Memorial Forest

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Lynnden Bray’s family is still searching for answers almost six weeks after she was found dead in the Jefferson Memorial Forest. Now, witnesses that were at the park on the day of her death are speaking up to try to get her justice.

The coroner called Bray’s death a suicide but her family and loved ones seem to believe otherwise. Genieveve Kersey says she ran into Lynnden’s boyfriend, Tim Winterholler, and Lynnden Bray’s dog at Jefferson Memorial Forest the day Lynnden Bray went missing and says she contacted LMPD as soon as she heard the news. After more than a month of waiting, Kersey says she has yet to hear back from detectives and she wants to make public what she experienced in hopes of giving Bray’s family some much needed closure.

According to LMPD, Lynnden Bray was last seen hiking with her dogs at around 5 p.m. July 13th and was reported missing later that night. The next day, her body was found in Jefferson Memorial Forest. Initially, the coroner ruled Bray’s cause of death as a ligature hanging, which isn’t common in suicides, but later on ruled her death as a suicide. Kandy Bray, Lynnden’s mom, says she still can’t wrap her head around the thought that her daughter could have committed suicide.

“Knowing the best and the worst, it’s just not, I still can’t believe it, “ Kandy Bray said. “I just still don’t think she did that. I just don’t.”

Kandy Bray isn’t alone in her thought process. Kersey and her friend were at Jefferson Memorial Forest the day Lynnden Bray went missing and she says they ran into a man at around 5:30 p.m. while she was starting one of the trails.

“We got out and we started walking towards the trail. The guy had come off the trail, he had a white pit that had a harness and a leash on and he stopped us and asked if we can take the dog,” Kersey said.

Kersey says she and her friend both said no and continued on their trail, but felt weary about the experience. Kersey then said she saw the man after they finished the trail an hour an a half later laying in the grass with the same white dog where he asked them if they saw another dog during their walk.

The next day, Kersey said her friend told her Bray went missing on the same trail and says she immediately called LMPD to report it. Two days later someone sent her a picture of Tim Winterholler and she says she instantly froze.

“When I looked at the picture it was the same guy. I pulled over and had a complete anxiety and panic attack and my aunt was like are you okay and I said no,” Kersey explained. “That’s the same guy that asked me about the dog and that’s the same guy that asked me about the other dog. And she goes, that’s her boyfriend.”

Kersey says she then contacted LMPD again and has never heard back. She was then able to get in contact with Lynnden’s mother, Kandy, who also reached out to detectives who told her they would reach out. They both say Kersey along with other witnesses have still yet to hear anything back from detectives. Now, Lynnden’s mother says she just wants all evidence and testimonies to be heard and considered.

“But it will be much easier to accept that if they had her the information that I’ve heard and talk to the people that I’ve talk to, and still felt like it was, she did this herself,” Bray said.

WAVE News reached out to LMPD asking about the validity of Bray and Kersey’s claims and if the case is indeed closed after the coroner reported the death as a suicide. They responded by saying this is still an active and ongoing investigation.

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