Officials in Kentucky believe they have found the body of the suspected gunman in a highway shooting, with the help of a couple who live-streamed their search on YouTube and vultures circling the body.
Officials said two state troopers and two civilians, Fred and Sheila McCoy, were simultaneously searching for the suspect in wooded areas in Laurel County on Wednesday when they encountered each other. After identifying themselves to each other, the group found an unidentified body, believed to be that of Joseph A. Couch.
There were “items associated with the body” that led officials to believe it was Couch, said Col. Phillip Burnett Jr. of the Kentucky State Police. A formal identification is expected Thursday, officials said, adding that there are no clues yet about how Couch died.
“We are very confident that this concludes the search for Joseph Couch,” Burnett said, adding later that “the people of Laurel County can be relieved, much more at ease, knowing that this manhunt is now complete.”
Authorities have been searching for Couch, 32, since the Sept. 7 shooting along Interstate 75, eight miles north of the town of London. Five people were seriously wounded. Burnett said vultures played a role in the body’s discovery. He said Wednesday night that officers had been searching the area all day when they saw vultures circling and began to smell what appeared to be decomposing flesh in the woods.
As the soldiers “moved through the dense terrain” to locate the scent and the area where the vultures were circling, they heard voices. Those voices belonged to a couple who identified themselves as Fred and Sheila McCoy, Burnett said.
“Almost immediately after the confrontation between the officers and the McCoys, the officers and McCoys encountered an unknown body,” Burnett said.
Burnett said the McCoys were cooperating and had provided officers with “relevant information” and that they would receive the money allocated for their help in finding the body.
Burnett said officers were still processing the crime scene Wednesday night, adding that the investigation is ongoing.
Laurel County Sheriff John Root said at Wednesday’s news conference that this is “not normal here in Laurel County.” He said that “now that this has been discovered, I hope our county can get back to some normalcy.”
“Our only goal was to save this man,” said Root, who noted that Couch’s family cooperated in the search.
Root said he is proud of the way all parties handled the search and that he would not have changed anything.
The weapon used in the shooting, an AR-15 rifle, was legally purchased in London on the day of the shooting, authorities said. Law enforcement officials said the gunman parked near a ridge overlooking the highway to fire at vehicles. He had about 1,000 rounds of ammunition, most of which were recovered.
Twelve vehicles were hit, according to the sheriff’s office, and an estimated 20 to 30 rounds were fired. Some drivers didn’t realize their vehicle had been hit until hours later.
The days-long search for Couch, a former Army reservist, was carried out using helicopters and drones with infrared technology, while special intervention teams and trained dogs tracked him across thousands of acres that resembled a jungle.
“The terrain was treacherous,” officials said Wednesday, adding that it was “very hilly” and that “the cover was so thick there” that it was difficult for searchers to see even a few meters ahead of them.
Couch was charged with five counts of attempted murder and five counts of first-degree assault. He has no criminal convictions; a charge of making a terroristic threat was dropped in March, said Jackie Steele, the county’s district attorney.
Just before the shooting, a woman who shares a child with Couch called Laurel County dispatchers with a chilling message.
“I’m going to kill a lot of people. Well, at least try,” Couch wrote to her, according to an arrest affidavit.
He continued: “I’ll kill myself after that.”
No motive has been established for the attack and authorities say there is no evidence that Couch specifically targeted anyone or was working with anyone else.
Root said Wednesday that he hoped authorities could have found Couch while he was alive so they could have asked him what his intentions were and he “could have paid for what he did.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
