JEFFERSONVILLE — A Jeffersonville judge has ruled in favor of giving custody to the grandfather of the child of the Charlestown woman who was found buried in the backyard of a New Albany home.

Stephanie Kirk, 35, was found dead, buried in the yard of William Clyde Gibson III, 54, who is charged in the murders of 75-year-old Christine Whitis, of Clarksville, and 45-year-old Karen Hodella, whose family said is from Florida and was visiting the area. Whitis was found strangled in Gibson’s garage in the 800 block of Woodbourne Drive, in New Albany, last month. Hodella’s body was found in January 2003 in a wooded area along the Ohio River. Her cause of death is unknown. The preliminary cause of death for Kirk is strangulation, according to Floyd County Coroner Leslie Knable.

On Thursday, Kirk’s father, Tony Kirk, asked a judge for custody of Stephanie’s 13-year-old daughter, Sabrina Kirk. Sabrina has lived with her grandfather on and off for years. Tony Kirk said Stephanie and Sabrina had been living with him for the past 6 years.

Tony Kirk said Sabrina’s father, George V. Tuell, has not seen his daughter in 9 years.

“This is what my daughter wanted,” Tony Kirk said. “She wanted me to take care of her daughter.”

“I’m not trying to take her away from her grandfather,” Tuell said. “I want to make sure she has decent living conditions ... I didn’t want her to be in a foster home or something.”

Tuell argued that the conditions at Tony Kirk’s Charlestown home may not have been clean enough, due to a 2011 Child Protective Services investigation that said there was animal feces in the home. However, Tony Kirk’s lawyer, Larry Wilder, provided the News and Tribune with a copy of the report, which says the family got rid of their pet cat and put their dog outside, eliminating that issue. It also said the family agreed to clean the home. The report said that the allegation of neglect was “unsubstantiated.”

Wilder said the judge told Sabrina that it would be up to her if she would like to see her father. Sabrina said Tuell gave her his cell phone number, but she does not want to contact him right now.

Meanwhile, Gibson still has not been charged in Kirk’s death. Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson said he is awaiting toxicology results on Kirk, before deciding whether to charge Gibson with a third murder count. Tony Kirk said the wait is hard.

“I’ll be glad when they charge him,” he said.

Tony Kirk said he knew something happened to his daughter when she hadn’t called. He said he heard from her on Sunday morning, March 25, that she would be back that evening. He said when he didn’t hear back or see her by the next day, he was worried.

“I knew about the second or third day that something was drastically wrong. I couldn’t sleep,” Tony Kirk said.

Stephanie Kirk’s body was found April 27.

He said finding Stephanie has brought closure to his family. He said Thursday’s hearing was a “good ending.”