‘You’ve destroyed our community, Mr. Couch’: Officers continue search for alleged I-75 shooter

LAUREL CO., Ky. (ABC 36 NEWS NOW) — Today marks day nine in the search for accused I-75 shooter Joseph Couch. Officials so far searching 28,000 acres of the Daniel Boone National Forest through thick brush while wearing heavy bullet proof vests, helmets and carrying equipment.

“It’s hard on him too, and I want it to be hard,” Trooper Scottie Pennington said. “I want him to suffer every step he makes.”

Officials say Couch is believed to be somewhere in the vast forest, making search efforts much more difficult.

“We’ve got the right people, we’ve got the right equipment, it’s just the Daniel Boone National Forest is a tough adversary,” he said. “Mr. Couch has done a great job, if he’s alive or dead, he’s done a great job concealing his self.”

Officers are out in the forest for hours at a time, wielding their gun and pushing through thick foliage.

“If you watch the Kentucky Derby, and you see a horse come in and it’s sweating, that’s how those dogs are coming in, that’s how those troopers and deputies are coming in,” Pennington said. “They’re sweating, they’re tired, they’re ate up with briars and thickets and ticks.”

Officials say Couch parked his car right off a breakaway road off exit 49 before walking 600 to 700 feet through the trails in the forest where he then sat on the side of I-75 allegedly shooting at cars.

“You’ve destroyed our community Mr. Couch, please turn yourself in,” the trooper said. “If you’ve got anything left in you as a man, turn yourself in to the Kentucky State Police, sheriff’s office or city police, turn yourself in to somebody.”