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Fresh details are emerging about the freeway sniper evading law enforcement in Kentucky. Joseph Couch sent a text message alerting his ex “I’m going to kill a lot of people. Well try at least.” What he typed next may have been misdirection to throw off the police. “I’ll kill myself afterwards.” He shot and wounded five but apparently didn’t follow through with his promise. His own body hasn’t been found, despite every available law enforcement officer chopping through dense forest with machetes. Even the infrared drones aren’t seeing any signs. He was trained by the Army as a combat engineer.
Freeway sniper evading police
The freeway sniper may have the upper hand now in the hide-and-seek game they’re playing but he’ll come out of the woods someday, State police Master Trooper Scottie Pennington believes.
“Military experience doesn’t make Couch a trained survivalist.” Especially because he never deployed anywhere. “How long can you really survive? We hope he just walks out.” It seems like they don’t have a lot of chance finding him if he doesn’t.
Couch picked the perfect sniper post on a hill overlooking the I-75 freeway near Lexington, Kentucky, and opened fire just as the sun was setting about 5:30 p.m. Saturday, September 7. That’s when he sent a suicide text.
Police won’t say who it went to but reporters figured out it was his ex-wife. “I’m going to kill a lot of people. Well try at least. I’ll kill myself afterwards.”
Captain Richard Dalrymple of the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office swore in the official affidavit that “before authorities received the first report of the shooting about 5:30 p.m. Saturday, a dispatcher in Laurel County got a call from a woman who told them Couch had sent her the text messages at 5:03 p.m.”
Apparently, he didn’t text anything specific enough for them to prevent the freeway terror attack.
Cellphone tracked too slow
As soon as they got the tip, police “initiated a tracker on Couch’s cellphone.” Ninety minutes after he opened fire targeting cars along the freeway in both directions, they got a location. If they ever manage to get him in custody, he’ll be charged with “five counts each of criminal attempt to commit murder and first-degree assault.”
The next day, “law enforcement officers searched an area near where Couch’s vehicle was found, with a view of I-75. There, they found a green Army-style duffel bag, ammunition and numerous spent shell casings.”
They discovered a Colt AR-15 rifle with a sniper scope attached and several magazines “a short distance away.” They’re pretty sure it was his because “the duffel bag had ‘Couch‘ hand-written in black marker.” They didn’t find his body.
They aren’t saying if they found the phone but it’s not helping the search any. The freeway runs through miles of dense forest. Police “have been combing thousands of acres in the rugged, hilly area near London, a small city of about 8,000 people about 75 miles south of Lexington.”
“Troopers are being brought in from across the state to aid in the search,” Pennington informs. They’re “walking in a jungle,” using machetes “to cut through thickets.” The terrain all around the freeway is rugged.
“We have cliff beds. We have sinkholes. We have caves.” Plenty of places for someone to hide. “We have culverts that go under the interstate. We have creeks and rivers and the dense brush.” They’re not ready to give up yet. “We’re not going to quit until we do lay hands on him,” Laurel County Sheriff John Root proclaims.
