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The livestreaming couple who found the body of the man who shot five people this month on Interstate 75 in Southern Kentucky on Wednesday also filmed a video purporting to show the area from which the shooter fired at cars.
The video showed a view of the interstate, rugged terrain, including a cliff that they admitted they should not have tried to cross, and two state troopers questioning them about what they were doing.
The couple, Fred and Sheila McCoy, say they are descendants of the famous feuding Appalachian families the Hatfields and McCoys. They previously operated a museum in Casey County dedicated to the feud.
And on Wednesday, they did what 14 law enforcement agencies could not: While streaming live video on YouTube, they found the body of 32-year-old Joseph Couch, who opened fire Sept. 7 on the busy stretch of highway near Exit 49, and prompting an 11-day manhunt through the woods of north Laurel County. The body was found near the interstate.
The McCoys were on day six of their own search for Couch when they found the body. They told WKYT they had decided to start searching for Couch as a date night idea.
Their previous livestreams predictably garnered less attention than Wednesday’s, which had nearly a half-million views as of Thursday afternoon. But the day before finding the body, in another video, they showed the area of rugged terrain near the interstate where they think Couch fired at cars, hitting 12 and injuring five people.
The early parts of the video, which is more than an hour long, showed Fred and Shelia walking a wooded path along the interstate with the sound of traffic roaring in the background. About 18 minutes in to the video, they make it to where it appeared Couch fired on the vehicles.
“This is it, this is his perch,” said Fred, who served more than 40 years in law enforcement as a Pike County sheriff’s deputy and fire and police chief in Hustonville, a rural city in Lincoln County.
Trees are cut down in the area, and Fred wonders if Couch cut the trees down to improve his view of the interstate, or if police cut them down during the manhunt.
Torn red tape surrounds the forest scene where where Fred and Sheila McCoy say Joseph Couch fired on 12 vehicles Sept. 7, 2024. The image is from their YouTube page and was taken a day before the couple found Couch’s body. “This is the crime scene that Sheila is filming right now, this is it” said Fred, followed by a “Wow” from his wife.
Fred McCoy looks down on Interstate 75 in Southern Kentucky from where he says Joseph Couch fired on 12 vehicles Sept. 7, 2024. “He had cars moving at 70, 80 mph, that’s hard to get a shot off”, said Fred in the video posted to YouTube.
Looking down on Exit 49 of Interstate 75 in Southern Kentucky from where Fred and Sheila McCoy say Joseph Couch fired on 12 vehicles Sept. 7, 2024. The couple started hiking early in the day to reach the area and where trying to find Couch.
A frame grab from Fred and Shelia McCoy’s YouTube page points out a survey marker on a tree. The video posted to the couple’s YouTube page shows survey markers on the ground and trees. Fred, who has a law enforcement background, said he thinks police used these to help determine exactly where Couch was shooting from.
Looking down a cliff towards Exit 49 of Interstate 75 in Southern Kentucky from where Fred and Sheila McCoy say Joseph Couch fired on 12 vehicles Sept. 7, 2024. On the video taken from the couples YouTube page, Fred estimated the drop was probably 200-300 feet.
Fred and Shelia McCoy walked down closer to ground level noting how high up Joseph Couch was when he fired on 12 vehicles Sept. 7, 2024. “This reminds me where I grew up in the mountains,” said Shelia.
Cut trees at the bottom of a cliff’s edge where Fred and Shelia McCoy say Joseph Couch fired on 12 vehicles Sept. 7, 2024. In the video posted to their YouTube page, Fred speculates who cut the trees, Couch for a better look at the interstate or police during their investigation. The image is taken from the McCoy’s YouTube page.
Then, about five miles from their car, they kept going, looking for Couch. They eventually got caught on a cliff.
“We went farther than we should have,” Fred said in the video. “Sheila was in front, and she would hold onto a tree. I would hold on to her, and I’d go to the next tree. It was rough.”
Someone spotted the McCoys on the cliff’s edge and called police. When the couple finally got back to their car, two Kentucky state trooper vehicles were waiting for them.
The troopers asked the McCoys what they are doing, and Fred responded, “Trying to find $35,000,” referring to the reward money offered for the capture of Couch. Fred also noted the need to get Couch off the streets.
The McCoy’s apologized to the Troopers for causing concern and said they would be back in the morning because buzzards were flying around.
Fred and Shelia noted the buzzard’s movements had shifted from one area of the forest to another.
The next day, they found Couch’s body.
Sheila and Fred McCoy of Liberty, Kentucky, located a body in the Daniel Boone National Forest on Wednesday, September 18, 2024, while livestreaming in the area. The couple began searching the forest after Joseph Couch, who is accused of shooting five people in vehicles on interstate 75 earlier this month, went missing.
