Police find body believed to be that of Kentucky highway shooter who wounded 5

By Daniel Trotta

(Reuters) -Police on Wednesday said they discovered a body believed to be that of a fugitive suspected of shooting and wounding five people in cars traveling along a Kentucky highway on Sept. 7, an outburst that led to a manhunt through rugged, wooded terrain.

Joseph Couch, 32, a former U.S. Army reservist, fired on unsuspecting motorists with an AR-style semiautomatic rifle that he purchased legally on the morning of the shooting along with 1,000 rounds of ammunition, officials said.

Investigators have not publicly speculated as to the shooter's motive. A text Couch sent to his ex-wife indicated he intended to kill himself after targeting strangers.

Kentucky state troopers accompanied by a couple that had been searching for Couch "stumbled upon an unidentified body" in a wooded area, Kentucky State Police ​Commissioner Phillip Burnett told reporters.

"We're very confident that this brings a closure in the search for Joseph Couch," Burnett said, adding that personal items found at the scene pointed toward Couch and an unspecified weapon was nearby.

The body would be sent to the state capital of Frankfort for identification, Burnett said.

Before the shooting spree, police received a call from Couch's ex-wife who said he texted her that "I'm going to kill a lot of people ... Well try at least," the Lexington Herald-Leader reported, citing an affidavit for an arrest warrant it had reviewed.

The woman later showed officers a follow-up text message saying, "I'll kill myself afterwards," the affidavit said.

The couple who helped discover the body - Fred and Sheila McCoy - would be eligible for a $25,000 reward, Burnett said.

They were drawn to the spot by a large numbers of vultures flying overhead, the Herald-Leader reported, citing a video the couple made that was interrupted by someone off-screen saying, "Hey, no pictures. This is a crime scene."

Multiple state, federal and local law enforcement agencies had been searching the Daniel Boone National Forest using helicopters, drones, dogs and special response teams, officials said two days after the shooting.

The shooting took place on Interstate 75 about 8 miles (13 km) outside the city of London in southeastern Kentucky.

Five people were injured, and at least 12 vehicles were hit, officials said.

Police that night recovered the AR rifle, Couch's car and a cellphone with the battery removed near the shooting site at Exit 49, officials said.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Additional reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Miral Fahmy)