Authorities have been scouring the rolling woods near Laurel County for days in search of Joseph Couch, a suspect in the Saturday evening shooting on Interstate 75 that left five people injured .
The notoriously rugged terrain of the area has compounded the difficulty of finding him, according to law enforcement officials.
“We are in the Daniel Boone National Forest , and this is thousands and thousands of acres,” said Scottie Pennington, public affairs officer for Kentucky State Police, in a Monday news briefing.
“It is like a jungle.”
Law enforcement officials have deployed helicopters, drones and dogs to search the area where Couch vanished into the forest, after officials found his car and gun near the scene of the shooting.
Part of officials’ strategy is “to apply steady pressure,” Pennington said, “...wearing Mr. Couch down.”
Cold nights and humid days, paired with a lack of food and water, will hopefully draw him out of the woods to surrender himself to law enforcement, Pennington said.
'Some of the most rugged terrain west of the Appalachian Mountains'
Cliffs, sinkholes, caves, culverts, creeks and rivers, and dense brush are complicating the manhunt for the Laurel County shooting suspect, Pennington said, along with wildlife that includes venomous snakes.
“Yes, there are paths, but when we’re looking for somebody, we have to go through those dense areas,” he said. “We have to go to make sure no rock is unturned.”
“The Daniel Boone National Forest embraces some of the most rugged terrain west of the Appalachian Mountains,” according to the U.S. Forest Service, and contains “steep forested slopes, sandstone cliffs and narrow ravines.”
Local, state and federal officials are combing through the forest, searching not only for Couch, but for other evidence linked to the crime, Pennington said.
Daniel Boone National Forest sprawls across more than 700,000 acres and 21 Kentucky counties. It’s roughly 94% forested , according to the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.
Others have vanished in Daniel Boone National Forest
Daniel Boone National Forest has proven challenging to search teams in the past — even in cases when the missing person wanted to be found.
In July, search teams found Scott Hern, 48, alive after he went missing in the forest for two weeks and spent an estimated 12 days without access to food or water, according to search and rescue officials.
Hern’s rescue in rough terrain was “truly a miracle,” the search team said. He was found a few counties away from where officials are now looking for Couch.
Some hikers who have gone missing in the forest were later found dead by search teams in recent years.
Taking a wrong step along wooded ridges or encountering dangerous wildlife adds risk in the region, especially off-trail, where law enforcement officials are now searching.
Connor Giffin is an environmental reporter at The Courier Journal. Reach him directly at cgiffin@gannett.com or on X @byconnorgiffin .
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This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: How the rugged Daniel Boone National Forest is complicating search for I-75 shooting suspect
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