Investigators believe they have found the body of the shooting suspect on a Kentucky highway, police said

CNN
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Investigators believe they have found the body of a man suspected of shooting five people and a dozen cars on a Kentucky highway this month, state police said Wednesday, ending an 11-day manhunt that stretched deep into the sprawling Daniel Boone National Forest and left surrounding communities in turmoil.

The body, believed to be Joseph Couch, was found Wednesday afternoon by a couple of civilians and two police officers in thick brush near Interstate 75 northwest of London, Kentucky State Police Chief Phillip Burnett Jr. said.

The police officers, who were drawn to the area by circling vultures and a smell of decomposition, and the couple, who were searching separately for Couch, met in the woods and the four of them then almost immediately “stumbled upon the body,” Burnett said, without elaborating on why the couple were searching.

Investigators believe the body is Couch’s based on items associated with the remains, Burnett said. The body will be transported to Frankfort, the state capital, on Thursday for positive identification, the commissioner said at a news conference in Laurel County.

“We are very confident that the search for Joseph Couch is now complete,” Burnett said. “The people of Laurel County can rest easy… and that is much easier now that they know that this manhunt is over.”

The cause of death will be determined by an autopsy, Burnett said. A weapon was found where the body lay, he said.

The cause of death was not initially disclosed.

Couch, perched on a cliff ledge, fired an AR-15 at cars on Interstate 75 in Laurel County near London in the early evening of Sept. 7, shortly after texting a woman saying he was going to try to “kill a lot of people” and then “kill himself afterward,” authorities said.

Five people were treated in hospital for gunshot wounds. The shooting caused authorities to close the highway for hours and sparked a manhunt that led to schools being temporarily closed and investigators urging residents to avoid the wilderness.

“So scary”: Witness describes what she heard during the shooting on the highway

The body was found near Exit 49 on I-75 in Laurel County, about 10 miles northwest of London and not far from the crime scene, state police said Wednesday. Authorities previously said they found a vehicle registered to Couch on a logging road near Exit 49 with an empty gun case inside.

Investigators have not yet announced a motive for the shooting.

“I really wish we could have found Couch alive. We could have asked him what his intentions were,” Laurel County Sheriff John Root said at Wednesday’s news conference. “We could have brought him to justice. … I would have preferred him to be alive and pay for what he did.”

As officers continued their search, voices in the area led them to the civilian couple who were also looking for Couch, Burnett said.

Burnett did not elaborate on the couple’s intentions or address authorities’ earlier warning to the public to stay away from the area.

Nevertheless, Root praised the couple.

“Hey, congratulations. We’re proud,” he said of the couple. “Our only goal was to save this guy.”

Burnett said the couple will receive a $15,000 reward from Laurel County Crime Stoppers and a $10,000 reward from a private donor.

The rampage began at around 5.30pm on September 7, about 15 kilometres north of London. Bullets rained down on the motorway, piercing cars, hitting five travellers and causing confusion among others who heard the noise but did not immediately know what it was.

Some of the victims suffered serious injuries. One victim was shot in the face and another in the chest, authorities said.

Although police were unable to immediately locate the shooter in the vast, dense wooded area near the highway, within less than a day they named a suspect – Couch, of Kentucky – after finding his car a short distance away, near the service road at Exit 49, and the AR-15 they believe he was using.

Investigators soon received information that they believed further linked him to the shooting, including text messages.

Before the shooting began, Couch texted a woman: “I’m going to kill a lot of people. So, I should at least try,” according to an arrest warrant against him.

Later, less than half an hour before the shooting, Couch sent another message, according to the arrest warrant: “I’m going to kill myself after this.”

According to the arrest warrant, the woman called 911 after receiving the text messages and later showed police screenshots of the conversation.

Additionally, on the day of the shooting, Couch purchased an AR-15 with sights and 1,000 rounds of ammunition, paying a total of nearly $3,000, the warrant says. According to the sheriff’s office, Couch made the purchases legally. The warrant charges him with five counts of attempted murder and five counts of first-degree assault, Jackie Steele, district attorney for Laurel and Knox counties, told CNN.

Police said they hoped constant pressure and an intensive manhunt involving drones, helicopters, dogs and dozens of police officers would lead to the arrest of the suspect.

The manhunt led search crews to trek through the vast forest that stretches across 21 Kentucky counties – an area roughly larger than Los Angeles and New York City combined.

The officer used machetes to cut through the dense undergrowth as he searched the terrain, which included sinkholes and caves.

The shooting and the manhunt sent communities in the region into turmoil.

More than a dozen local school districts and several private schools canceled classes for at least one day last week, while some businesses in Laurel County closed their doors, Sheriff Root said. And police urged residents to avoid hiking and hunting in the woods.

For Root, the safety of residents is the top priority, he said on Wednesday.

“Classes were canceled. Church services were canceled. People were scared. This is not normal here in Laurel County. Now that this has been discovered, I hope our county can return to normal,” Root said.

Root said Couch’s family has cooperated with authorities throughout the investigation and the search for him.

The shooting on I-75 was at least the second shooting on a highway in a week.

In Washington state, five people were injured by gunfire and another person was hit by flying glass after a series of shootings along I-5 in the Seattle and Tacoma regions.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been at least 397 mass shootings so far this year. Mass shootings are defined as those in which four or more victims are shot. That’s an average of more than 1.5 mass shootings per day.

This is a developing story and will be updated.