Current:Home > MarketsA couple found the Kentucky highway shooter’s remains by being bounty hunters for a week, they say -TrueNorth Capital Hub
A couple found the Kentucky highway shooter’s remains by being bounty hunters for a week, they say
View
Date:2025-04-13 10:01:11
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Days after a shooter attacked an interstate and disappeared, leaving a Kentucky community scared and on guard, Fred and Sheila McCoy decided to lace up their boots for the first time in a long time and spend days in rugged terrain searching until, finally, they found a body.
Kentucky State Police credited Fred and Sheila McCoy, who typically spend their retired days creating YouTube videos about the Hatfield-McCoy feud, with helping investigators find what they believe are the remains of Joseph Couch. Couch, 32, is suspected of firing randomly at vehicles on Interstate 75 on Sept. 7, wounding five people.
Teams of local, state and federal law enforcement had searched tens of thousands of acres of woods since the shooting. Authorities warned residents to be extra vigilant and some schools temporarily shifted to virtual learning.
“For one week we turned into bounty hunters,” Fred McCoy told The Associated Press on Thursday. “The more we was watching the news and saw lockdowns and school closings, the more we were compelled to search for him.”
The discovery of the remains calmed fears in the eastern Kentucky community of London, just a few miles from where the shooter perched above the highway and opened fire with an AR-15. State police said Wednesday night that the McCoys would receive a $25,000 reward for the find.
Once the identification is fully confirmed, it will “bring to a close a pretty scary time in that community and the surrounding communities,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday.
“We have every reason to believe that this is Joseph Couch,” Beshear told reporters at the Kentucky Capitol in Frankfort. “But a final and determinative identification has not yet been possible. There is DNA testing going on right now.”
In a 30-minute YouTube livestream Wednesday, the McCoys are filming in dense woods after they see vultures in the air, and Sheila McCoy says she can smell a foul odor.
“Oh, Lord, this is nasty. Oh, my goodness, this is gross,” Sheila says while warning her husband to watch out for snakes.
At the end of the video, they discover the remains. “Hey, guys, you won’t believe it, we found him, oh, my goodness gracious,” Sheila McCoy says in the video.
Police were also searching the area, and the couple identified themselves to officers about 12 minutes before they found the remains. They’d also warned police and friends they’d be there, and were livestreaming on YouTube in case something went wrong, Fred McCoy said.
“We didn’t know we was going to find him like that,” he said. “We could’ve found him with a gun pointed at us.”
The McCoys live a couple of counties away from where the shooter attacked. They hadn’t gone on a hike in the woods in a long time — Sheila, 59, had previously had back surgery and her husband, 66, had knee surgery — but they decided after a Friday night date to help in the search, said Fred McCoy, himself a retired police officer.
“We were just a crippled old man and crippled old woman walking in the woods,” he said Thursday. Fred McCoy said he is a descendant of a Hatfield-McCoy marriage and they run a small museum related to the history of the feud.
He estimated the remains were about a mile away from where the shooter opened fire. Nearby, police found Couch’s vehicle and an AR-15 last week.
The discovery of the body put nearby residents at ease after more than a week of tension with a gunman on the loose near their homes.
“I feel a huge sense of relief,” said Heather Blankenship, a mother of three who lives near London. She saw the body in the McCoys’ video, which has grown to nearly a half-million views in less than 24 hours, and even though her anxiety is gone and her sense of normalcy has returned, it’s still sad, she said.
“I’m over here relieved that to me this monster is dead,” but meanwhile, the suspect’s family is grieving, Blankenship said.
Authorities said the shooter fired 20 to 30 rounds, creating chaos. The five victims survived, but some suffered serious injuries.
Authorities said Couch purchased the AR-15 weapon and about 1,000 rounds of ammunition at a London gun store hours before the shooting.
Laurel County Judge-Executive David Westerfield sensed a collective sigh of relief among residents.
“They feel like they can go back to their normal lifestyle,” he said.
veryGood! (2)
Related
- The 401(k) millionaires club keeps growing. We'll tell you how to join.
- 11 bodies recovered after volcanic eruption in Indonesia, and 22 climbers are still missing
- Taylor Swift makes fifth NFL appearance to support Travis Kelce
- Why some investors avoid these 2 stocks
- Pressure on a veteran and senator shows what’s next for those who oppose Trump
- Georgia’s governor and top Republican lawmakers say they want to speed up state income tax cut
- 'Colin From Accounts' deserves a raise
- White House warns Congress the US is out of money, nearly out of time to avoid ‘kneecap’ to Ukraine
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Hi Hi!
- Ukrainian diplomats negotiate both climate change and Russia’s war on their nation at COP28 in Dubai
Ranking
- Travis Hunter, the 2
- The Challenge's Ashley Cain Expecting Baby 2 Years After Daughter Azaylia's Death
- AP PHOTOS: 2023 was marked by coups and a Moroccan earthquake on the African continent
- In some Czech villages, St Nicholas leads a parade with the devil and grim reaper in tow
- What were Tom Selleck's juicy final 'Blue Bloods' words in Reagan family
- Chris Christie may not appear on Republican primary ballot in Maine
- Deputy on traffic stop in Maine escapes injury when cruiser hit by drunken driver
- A toaster placed under a car to heat up the battery likely sparked a fire in Denmark, police say
Recommendation
Intel's stock did something it hasn't done since 2022
Fatal stabbing near Eiffel Tower by suspected radical puts sharp focus on the Paris Olympics
Spanish judge opens an investigation into intelligence agents who allegedly passed secrets to the US
Opening statements begin in Jonathan Majors assault trial in New York
Charges tied to China weigh on GM in Q4, but profit and revenue top expectations
In some Czech villages, St Nicholas leads a parade with the devil and grim reaper in tow
The high cost of subscription binges: How businesses get rich off you forgetting to cancel
Police in Greece allege that rap singer blew up and robbed cash machines to pay for music videos