WSIP NEWS
After a missing Johnson County man's body was found in a creek, investigators are trying to determine how he died and ended up in the water. 56 year old Jimmy "Bill Bill" Wells disappeared February first. Last Wednesday search crews found his body in Hurricane Creek in Boons Camp. Investigators are waiting for the medical examiner to determine the cause of death so they can move forward in their investigation. Coroner J.R. Frisby says the preliminary autopsy did not reveal how he died. Sheriff Bill Witten says they are not ruling anything out. It was the sixth time crews searched the area, but say the recent snow could have played a role in not finding him earlier. The coroner says it could be weeks until they determine a cause of death. Investigators are still questioning people in the meantime.
State police are investigating the shooting death of a Caneyville man by Leitchfield Police. According to the Kentucky State Police, Leitchfield police responded to reports Friday night of a man outside a gas station with a rifle. Officers Brandon Brooks, Sgt. Jack Holland and Officer Brandon Cook returned fire after 31-year-old Brandon Green began shooting at them. Green was wounded and transported to the University of Louisville hospital. Gayle Norris, of the state coroner's office, said Green died early Saturday from multiple gunshot wounds. Two of the officers in the shooting, Holland and Cook, received minor injuries. They were treated and released from the hospital.
Kentucky State Police are investigating the death of a three-year-old child in the Jenson Community of Bell County. Bell County Dispatch sent an ambulance after a 911 call of an unresponsive child. After being rushed to the Pineville Community Hospital, the child was pronounced dead. The Kentucky State Medical Examiner's Office is conducting an autopsy. Investigators say the cause of death is to be determined. The name of the child has not been released.
Police are investigating after one person was stabbed and another one shot. The incident happened Saturday night in Laurel County. Police are not saying much about what happened, but they do say that two people were injured. One person is suffering a gunshot wound, and another from a stab wound. Both people were taken to a local area hospital, but their condition is not known.
A meth lab exploded at a home Friday with a 3-year-old girl inside. The Laurel County Sheriff's Department was called to a home on High Moore Road near London. The child and her mother escaped safely. But that woman, Rebecca Blevins, is now charged with making meth and endangering a child, among other things. Police say two other suspects ran off. They think one has severe burns.
A man accused of shooting another man outside a southern Kentucky restaurant has been found guilty of manslaughter. Police say Larry Wilson shot Todd Carter outside 'the Root Beer Stand' July 31st, 2009 in Whitley County. After three days of testimony, the jury found Wilson guilty of second degree manslaughter. Wilson claimed it was self-defense. The jury recommended Wilson spend seven-and-a-half years in prison for the crime.
Two former employees of a chain of pain clinics are charged with contributing to a flood of prescription pills into eastern Kentucky. Officials say 45-year old Stephen M. Lyon of Louisiana and 33-year old Tonia Snook of Mississippi conspired to distribute methadone. Investigators say the two recruited people from eastern Kentucky to come to different company offices from 2004 to 2007. The case relates to an earlier one involving dozens of people from the Floyd County area who went to other states to get pills and then sold and abused them here.
A federal grand jury has indicted a Carter County deputy jailer on one count of sexual abuse of an inmate. The U.S. Attorney's office says the grand jury in Ashland indicted 43-year-old Keith D. Hollingsworth of Olive Hill on one count of sexual abuse of a ward. The indictment alleges that in December of 2005, Hollingsworth engaged in sexual acts with an inmate at the Carter County Detention Center. A court date has not been set.
Kentucky House leaders wrapped up work Friday on a state budget blueprint for the next two years that proposes funding a flurry of construction projects aimed at creating thousands of jobs to help ease the state's high unemployment rate. The approximately $17.5 billion spending plan relies on budget cuts, revenue enhancements and other steps to plug a shortfall exceeding $1 billion for the two years beginning July 1. The plan includes about $1 billion in bonding for school construction, water and sewer projects and road building. State officials announced Thursday that Kentucky's annual unemployment rate for 2009 jumped to a 26-year high of 10.5 percent. House leaders are hoping for a timetable that gets the spending plan through the budget committee Tuesday, followed by action the next day in the House.
