Jordyn Dumont’s Dad Speaks Exclusively to WCCB

SHELBY, N.C. – “I feel like I can actually breath now,” says Josh Kinnett. He wears his daughter’s ashes around his neck, along with a cross, and angel wings pinned to his shirt. Underneath his shirt, on his chest, his first tattoo, in Jordyn Dumont’s honor. Kinnett, who lives in Illinois, was in the Cleveland County courtroom every day of his daughter’s murder trial. Kinnett says, “I wanted people to know that I wasn’t like how he was. I wanted to show what type of father I actually was.”

Kinnett, who sat quietly in court through graphic pictures and video confessions, now has this to say to his daughter’s killer: “Where you’re going, you’re probably going to encounter some people who aren’t going to be very happy about that, about what he did. And I hope he gets what’s coming to him,” says Kinnett.

Three-year-old Dumont was beaten to death in August 2016 by her mother’s then-live-in boyfriend, William “Skip” McCullen. Prosecutors delivered an, at times, scathing closing argument Monday, and ended with a photograph of the toddler smiling at the camera. Gaston Co. Assistant District Attorney Debbie Gulledge told jurors, “This child deserves justice. Do the right thing. Find him guilty of first degree murder.”

The jury delivered the unanimous guilty verdict in less than 30 minutes of deliberations.

The clerk court read aloud in court, “Guilty by first degree murder on the basis of murder by torture and under the felony murder rule.”

McCullen was sentenced to life with no parole, and immediately after, told the court: “I’d like to appeal the decision and the sentence.”

His sister, Crystal McCullen, spoke outside the courthouse. She said, “I really didn’t want to believe that my brother was capable of anything like this. But I’m really sorry to the family and it’s just a tragedy for everybody involved.”

Tragedy is part of the fabric of Josh Kinnett’s life now.

But so is joy.

His one-year-old daughter is a daily reminder of that. Kinnett calls her, “My pride and joy right now.”

Her name?

Noa Jordyn.

More legal action could be coming in the death of Jordyn Dumont. Kinnett and his attorney are considering their next steps.