MUSES MILLS, Ky. – A man suspected of killing two people and wounding a third, then holding the mother of his children hostage overnight in the woods, was captured early Saturday, Kentucky State Police said.
The hostage, 27-year-old Bonnie Butler, was found uninjured, troopers said. One of those killed in the Friday night shooting was described as the father of her unborn child.
Roy Pollard, 35, was arrested about five kilometres from the scene of the shootings at a house in a remote area of Fleming County in eastern Kentucky, trooper Ralph Lockard said.
Butler was found about an hour before Pollard’s arrest when she went to a farm and called police, Lockard said.
Butler, 27, was talking with investigators and was treated after being outdoors overnight in freezing temperatures, Lockard said. “She was in good shape,” he said.
Pollard also was hospitalized for treatment of exposure, then was taken to the Mason County Detention Center and held on two counts of murder, one count of first-degree assault, one count of burglary and four lesser charges.
Police and jail officials had no information on a lawyer for Pollard. A message left at the Mason County public defender’s office was not returned Saturday night.
Investigators were still searching for a rifle they said Pollard had when he fled into a wooded area.
Lockard identified the people killed as Willa Marie Thompson, 52, and her nephew, Jason Lee Thompson, 25, both of Fleming County. Richard Anderson, 33, of Louisa, was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, Lockard said.
Police described Butler as Pollard’s ex-wife. But Howard Riley, a cousin of Jason Lee Thompson, said Butler and Pollard weren’t married although they had children together. Family members were unsure about Anderson’s relationship to either the Thompsons or Butler.
Riley said Butler planned to marry Jason Lee Thompson and is four months pregnant with Thompson’s baby, and Pollard was angry about their relationship and often harassed the couple.
“I guess he just flipped,” Riley said.
“I know it had been stewing,” said Robert Thompson, an uncle of Jason Thompson and brother-in-law of Willa Marie Thompson. He said that about a month ago Pollard drew a gun at the property where the shooting took place. Police were called, but Pollard was never arrested.
Willa Marie Thompson was shot once and Jason Lee Thompson was shot multiple times, Lockard said.
The shooting took place about 70 kilometres northeast of Lexington.
