LONDON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Kentucky State Police reported Wednesday that they found a body believed to be Joseph Couch in deep rural brush northwest of London, Kentucky.
They were assisted by Fred and Sheila McCoy, the couple who received $25,000 in the discovery.
Athaleen Wagers, a Laurel County resident, addressed what she thought when she heard the body was found near Exit 49. Couch is the man accused of being the I-75 shooter who wounded five people and hit 12 cars back on Sept. 7.
"I appreciate the law enforcement and everything they did and the people that did find him and I just hate it for his family, his poor mother," Wagers said.
With so much stress on this town for 13 days, knowing there's been so much nationwide attention due to the search, Gina Wilson emphasized how it's impacted businesses, schools, and churches, for example.
"You see this on the national news, and you see it play out, and we're all connected now with the news, the world is smaller than we want it to be or believe it to be, but when it happens in your own hometown it is just incredibly shocking," Wilson said.
Wilson added it's good to hear a sense of closure.
"It's a relief that the kids can get back to normal at schools and the community can kind of resume normalcy, as well, because this has been a lot for our community. The kids were out of school for six days. It really impacted them all," Wilson noted.
Wilson mentioned that she is pleased that law enforcement approached it this way and that they were able to cover more than 28,000 acres in the search of the Daniel Boone National Forest. State police said that the DNA Test performed at today's autopsy had inconclusive results, but more testing is scheduled for Friday. Getting those results could take 24 to 48 hours.
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