Friends remember young mother found beaten to death

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ)- It’s a not guilty plea from the man accused of beating a young mother to death, in Lexington.

Police accuse 35-year-old Valenti Ware of killing 37-year-old Meghan Acord in September.

Lexington police say ware beat Acord to death with a railroad tie.

Police found Ware in Iowa.

He was returned to Lexington, yesterday.

According to police records, Ware and Acord met while staying at the Catholic Action Center.

People at the Catholic Action Center say they are still in shock after learning what happened the night of September 29th when two people walked out of the center but only one returned.

“She was a good person and to have what happened to her the way it happened to her is hard for a lot of us around here to understand,” said Van Allen, who met Acord while she was staying at the Catholic Action Center.

Allen and many others here at the Catholic Action Center tell me they were absolutely devastated when they heard the news Acord had been murdered.

“She was I’d say a bubbly person. You know anybody she met you know she’d befriend them or she be befriended by them,” said Allen.

Acord was found beaten to death under the East Loudon Avenue brdge back on October first.

What makes it even scarier, Allen says, is that Acord’s accused killer is 35-year-old Valenti Ware, another man they say had been staying at the center for a while.

“That’s what we don’t understand. He was one of the persons here too and she was too and they probably met just like me and her met you know,” said Allen.

Lexington police say Acord and Ware were seen leaving the Catholic Action Center on the night of September 29th.

Allen says the two were going out with a group to party but only Ware came back.

“He come back and she don’t. You know and we don’t know what happened. But now that we really do found out what happened. It’s pretty shocking,” said Allen.

Allen says Acord had told him she’d recently had a baby and was looking forward to regaining custody, something she no longer has the chance to do.

“I don’t get it. I guess a lot of us around here don’t get it. We’re all in this together and her life was just snuffed out so fast and for no reason. That’s about all I can say,” said Allen.

Those with the center say they brought in chaplains after Acord’s murder.

They say they want to reassure people that this center will remain a safe space for anyone in need of help.