A teacher in Adair County, Kentucky, was arrested after officials said she sexually abused a juvenile inmate at a detention center where she worked and asked him to kill her husband.
The news surrounds the suspect — identified as 27-year-old Elena Bardin, an Adair County School teacher — and a young male inmate at the Adair County Juvenile Detention Center, WBKO reported on Friday.
Authorities conducted a routine search of the detention center’s living units late last month and found “letters and sexually explicit material” in the boy’s bunk allegedly sent by Bardin, who was assigned to teach at the facility. Officials for the detention center then contacted Kentucky State Police (KSP) detectives to report the incident, according to a statement issued by the agency on Thursday.
“KSP Post 15 Detectives discovered evidence that Elena Bardin, 27, of Columbia, solicited a male juvenile to kill her husband. Evidence also revealed that Ms. Bardin had subjected the juvenile to illegal sexual contact and provided him with sexually explicit images of herself,” the press notice revealed.
Court TV posted a mugshot of the suspect to its X account on Saturday.
Elena Bardin is accused of soliciting a teenager to kill her husband after sending the child explicit images of herself. #CourtTV What do YOU think? ⚖️👇 https://t.co/ZwXEySwQtm
— Court TV (@CourtTV) April 5, 2025
Bardin was arrested on Wednesday and charged with solicitation of murder, first-degree sexual abuse, and distribution of obscene matter to a minor.
“Detective Mike Dubree continues his investigation into the incident,” Kentucky State Police said on Thursday.
Bardin is currently being held at the Adair County Detention Center, according to People magazine.
“There is no public indication that anyone was killed as a result of the alleged solicitation. The investigation by KSP is ongoing at this time and the juvenile male has not been charged with any crime at this time,” the publication noted, adding that Bardin does not currently have a lawyer and officials have yet to schedule her court date.
In 2024, a former middle school principal in Missouri pleaded guilty to charges connected to a murder-for-hire plot he allegedly set up against a teacher he impregnated, per Breitbart News.
