Christopher Allman, the man who has been arrested and indicted on murder charges in the death of Sarah Hart, has now also been indicted by a grand jury on a first degree rape charge, according to documents obtained from Russell Circuit Court a week ago Tuesday.

Previously, Allman, 28, had been indicted on murder, fetal homicide, kidnapping, robbery and tampering with physical evidence charges. Those indictments came back in late June.

He was also indicted Tuesday on being a persistent felony offender, second degree.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Matthew Leveridge said the latest indictment relates back to evidence collected through the initial investigation by the Kentucky State Police and local authorities.

He said forensic findings at the Kentucky State Police lab were presented to the grand jury last week which resulted in the latest charge.

Leveridge has already said he will seek the death penalty in the case.

Hart, 31, was robbed and killed in Jamestown along US 127 on June 14 as she was returning to her vehicle following an early morning jog.

Officials said Hart was 10-11 weeks pregnant when she was strangled to death.

Kentucky State Police arrested Allman about 12 hours after Hart’s death.

He remains lodged in the Russell County Detention Center under a $1 million cash bond.

A pre-trial hearing is set for October 23 in the case, according to Circuit Clerk Tony Kerr.

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Following last week’s move by the Russell County Hospital Board of Directors to bring in Central Baptist Hospital to manage the facility, so to did that bring a change to the hospital’s chief executive officer.

Robert Ramey, a 17-year veteran of Central Baptist, has taken over as CEO and brings his many years of leadership to RCH.

“I’ve been excited to come down and be here the last few days,” Ramey said. “The first week has gone very well. I’ve been very impressed with the staff that we have here and I think that we have a really strong, caring group here at the hospital and the community has been extremely welcoming as well.”

Ramey, who most recently worked as administrator of the multimillion dollar Baptist-Physicians Surgery Center in Lexington, said he would continue to get out in the community the next few weeks and greet folks as he makes himself at home in the community.

When he was first approached by Central Baptist officials about the opportunity here last week, Ramey said he jumped at the chance.

“I was looking forward to it,” he said. “It was a great opportunity and I think the hospital has a good reputation. I think the opportunity to move to Russell County was something that was intriguing to me.”

Ramey had the chance late last week to get out in the community and look for a place to stay long term and has continued to look around this week as he adjusts to life in Russell County.

“I’ve found some wonderful properties and some really nice communities as well,” he said. “I’ve actually been staying here and went back to Lexington over the weekend just to close a few things out but overall I’m trying to move down here full-time as quickly as I can.”

Ramey said he had visited Lake Cumberland on several occasions and had stayed in Russell County multiple times but that this new opportunity would allow him to fall into place and become a staple in this community.

“I’m actually from a small town,” he said. “I grew up on a dairy farm in an agricultural community so this feels like I’m coming home more than sometimes being in a larger city.”

He was born in Bourbon County in central Kentucky but grew up in a town in central New York with abundant rolling hills, lakes and farms.

“Being from Bourbon County, I still had some family in Kentucky and I just wanted to come back down after high school,” he said. “I graduated from the University of Kentucky and never wanted to leave. I knew I was home in Kentucky.”

Ramey graduated from UK in 1993 with a degree in health administration and then received his MBA in 1998 from UK as well.

“Early in college I realized I wanted to go into healthcare in some way,” he said. “I wanted to be in a position where I could help impact people’s lives in a positive way.”

His career began in Pikeville in 1993 where he was coordinator for physician recruitment and physician services. He moved over to Central Baptist in 1995 where he focused on recruitment and network medical services, where he developed relationships with physicians in and around central Kentucky.

As administrator, Ramey oversaw the entire organization, which was a partnership between Central Baptist and some local surgeons in the Lexington area. He focused on things from an operational standpoint, financial standpoint and patient care standpoint where he made sure they were providing a high quality patient care.

Ramey, a first time hospital CEO, said the partnership between RCH and Central Baptist will allow the hospital to expand on the services already offered.

“I think my experiences and what I’ve done before working with physician recruitment and physician relations as well as running the business at the surgery center has prepared me for this type of position,” he said. “I saw it as a great opportunity to come down here.”

Ramey said he has been extremely impressed with the hospital’s board of directors, which includes Chairman Chris McQueary, Mark Antle, Charles Blankenship, Sheldon Stephens and Kathy Hammond, and their progressive foresight and dedication to the services at the hospital at a time when the healthcare industry is rapidly changing.

“I’ve also been very impressed with the staff here at the hospital,” he said. “Everybody is dedicated to improving the health of the community and one of the things I’ve noticed is that the needs of the patient is really what drives the decisions and that mirrors the philosophy of Baptist and Central Baptist so I think it is just a perfect fit with this partnership.”

With a $21 million USDA loan toward expanding the hospital already located, Ramey said he and his Central Baptist colleagues were excited about breaking ground on that project.

“I think the USDA loan that was secured by the board was a testament to their hard work and to the determination to the community in enhancing the healthcare services that will be available to the community,” he said. “I’m looking forward to leading those efforts.”

At Central Baptist we’ve got a large construction project going on so I’ve had those experiences and understand what it takes in this type of construction project…we’re looking forward to making this a reality.”