On September 18th, police found a body behind l-75 where a shooting took place in a bush. It is believed to be the suspected gunman, Joseph Couch, who opened fire in London, Kentucky. Two state troopers and two civilians were nearby and noticed vultures surrounding the area. The troopers investigated and noticed a foul odor soon after they stumbled upon the body. As they tried to identify the body, they realized the tissue was too soft due to extreme decomposition, but later was able to use a bone from the body to identify the body. 

The body was later identified and confirmed as Joseph Couch. His cause of death was a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head; his weapon and other personal items were found with him. Authorities had been looking for Couch since September 7th, after he injured 5 people and left 12 cars with bullet holes. Police estimated 30-40 shots were fired toward the cars. 

Joseph was a former member of the army reserves. Couch was charged with five counts of attempted murder and five counts of first-degree assault. The couple who were helping search were livestreaming the search on their YouTube when they found the body. Authorities say the motive for the shooting is still unclear. A worker at a gun shop confirmed that Couch purchased an AR-15 and 1000 rounds of ammunition. The firearm that was found is believed to be the one that he purchased that day. Before the shooting around 5:03 pm, Couch texted his child’s mother less than an hour before he began firing shots and said “I’m going to kill a lot of people, or at least try.”, and then said he was going to kill himself after. The woman immediately called the cops to report the messages she received and showed the police screenshots of the messages.