A man who formerly lived in Caneyville and Leitchfield has been arrested after allegedly shooting and killing a mother and her teenage daughter.
Kentucky State Police said the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office conducted a welfare check on Friday morning at approximately 10:15 on South Spring Street in Morehead. When deputies arrived at the home, police located two deceased individuals: 37-year-old Kayla D. Blake and her 13-year-old daughter, Kennedi McWhorter, both of Morehead.
Investigators determined that the double-murder suspect was 44-year-old Joshua W. Cottrell, who fled the area prior to police arriving, according to state police.
Troopers and local law enforcement in McCracken County located Cottrell at a Paducah area hospital on Friday afternoon at 2:00.
After his release from the hospital, Cottrell was arrested by Kentucky State Police and charged with two counts of murder and tampering with physical evidence and lodged in the McCracken County Detention Center.
The investigation is ongoing, and additional details will be released as they become available, police said.
According to online records, Cottrell was listed as a Caneyville resident by the McCracken County Detention Center in a September 2023 arrest for public intoxication. His street address was Frank Smith Road, just east of Caneyville off Beaver Dam Road (Hwy 62).
Cottrell, who was 21 at the time and lived in Leitchfield, was convicted of second-degree manslaughter in the 2003 killing of 36-year-old Richie Phillips at a motel in Elizabethtown. Phillips’ body was found stuffed in a suitcase by fishermen in Rough River Lake in Breckinridge County, according to media reports from 2003.
Cottrell, who was also found guilty of theft by unlawful taking and tampering with physical evidence, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
