Body found near exit 49 on I-75 believed to be Joseph Couch, officials say

LONDON, Ky. ( FOX 56 ) — A body was found on Wednesday in Laurel County.

During a news conference, authorities said a body discovered near exit 49 on I-75 has been sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Frankfort for positive identification and to determine the cause of death.

Police said Kentucky State Police were notified around 3:30 p.m. that two police troopers and two civilians located the body.

Authorities said vultures and the smell of decomposition led troopers and the Hatfield McCoy Museum Adventures group to the body.

Police said “personal artifacts and a weapon found with the body” led them to believe it was Joseph Couch.

“The main thing that is very good tonight is that the people of Laurel County can rest easy, much easier, knowing that this manhunt can now come to a conclusion,” Col. Phillip Burnett with KSP said.

During the event, police thanked Fred McCoy and Sheila McCoy, who operate the Hatfield McCoy Museum Adventures YouTube page, for their cooperation and said the couple would receive a $25,000 reward.

Livestream footage from Hatfield McCoy Museum Adventures showed a group tracking vultures Wednesday afternoon near exit 49 on I-75. At a point during their search, they started to smell decaying flesh, according to the video, which led them to the body.

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The livestream, which lasted around 30 minutes, ended about one minute after they found the body and called out to the rest of their group.

According to other videos on their channel, the Hatfield McCoy Museum Adventures group took a break from sharing the story of the Hatfield and McCoy feud to help locate Joseph Couch .

“We kept lookin’ and lookin’ and she kept smelling, and finally happened up on him. He’s lying in a well; I guess the bank of a little small holler coming off the top of the hill runs into a creek below it. Pretty decomposed,” Fred McCoy told FOX 56.

The discovery comes 12 days after five people were injured in a highway shooting in the Exit 49 area.

Laurel County Sheriff John Root asked the community to say a prayer for those injured in the I-75 mass shooting and Couch’s family.

“I’ve always said pray for our victims; let’s have a prayer for Joe Couch’s family,” Root said.

Madylin Goins and Corey Elam contributed to this story.

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