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http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article199609759.html
Arlene and James Nickell were killed at their house Saturday afternoon in the McKenzie Branch community of Johnson County. Police blame the murders on their son, who they say went on to kill his girlfriend, Lindsey Vanhoose, and her mother, Patricia Vanhoose, at an apartment in Paintsville. He then took his own life, police added. Photo provided by Michelle Burke Meyerhoff.
State
Johnson County pieces together why a son would kill his parents, girlfriend and her mom
By Bill Estep
[email protected]
February 11, 2018 09:39 PM
Updated 4 hours 6 minutes ago
A Johnson County man who shot and killed his parents and two other people before committing suicide had struggled with drug addiction for years, according to the family’s pastor.
State police on Sunday were investigating the murders of Arlene Nickell, 70, and her husband, James Wayne Nickell, 75, as well as Lindsey Vanhoose, 41, and her mother, Patricia Vanhoose, 57. Police said Lindsey Vanhoose was the shooter’s girlfriend.
The shootings unfolded at two locations in Johnson County Saturday afternoon. The parents were killed at their house and the Vanhooses at an apartment in Paintsville.
Police identified the shooter as Joseph Nickell, 45, the son of James and Arlene Nickell. Joseph Nickell killed himself after the final shooting at the Paintsville apartment, police said.
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Nickell’s teenage son was at the house where the first shootings but escaped and called 911, police said.
Police had not established a motive by Sunday afternoon, said Trooper William Petry, a spokesman for Kentucky State Police.
“There’s going to be a lot more investigation,” Petry said.
Johnson County Sheriff Dwayne Price said in a Facebook post that the local 911 center received a call at 3:33 p.m. about a shooting in the rural McKenzie Branch community.
When Price and two deputies arrived at the residence, they found two people dead in the kitchen.
Those were the two parents, according to state police.
Joseph Nickell reportedly left his parents’ home in a black Toyota Camry.
The sheriff’s office, state police and Paintsville police began searching for the car and notified other counties to be on the lookout.
The Camry was found parked on Mill Street in Paintsville outside an apartment building.
Related stories from Lexington Herald Leader
‘A horrific murder spree’ in Johnson County leaves five dead, including the shooter
A son’s terrible toll: He killed his parents, his girlfriend and her mom in Johnson County
Police searched the building and found Lindsey and Patricia Vanhoose and the shooter all dead in an apartment.
Joseph Nickell had killed himself with a single shot, police said, and Johnson County Coroner J.R. Frisby said all four of the victims had been shot once each with a 9mm handgun.
There was no indication of a struggle before the shootings, Frisby said.
Joseph Nickell lived with his parents.
Frisby said he understood the family had had a good day before the shootings. Arlene Nickell had fixed a meal and baked a cake, before Joseph Nickell apparently started shooting without warning, Frisby said.
“It is crazy,” he said.
Frisby said Nickell left behind a note. Frisby had not seen it, but said he understood from other authorities that it referred to the heartache his parents had felt since their daughter Becki died a few months ago.
James Kelly Caudill, pastor at Tom’s Branch Free Will Baptist Church, said James and Arlene Nickell, as well as Joseph Nickell, were members at the church.
“It’s a hard lick,” he said of the deaths.
Caudill said Joseph Nickell had struggled with drug problems for years. He had been through treatment, but seemed to suffer a setback after the death of his sister, who'd also had drug problems, Caudill said.
“This boy . . . he just never did really get over that. I think it just inflamed his addiction,” Caudill said. “It just come to a head.”
However, he said Nickell’s parents loved him and he loved them. There had been no bad blood between them that Caudill was aware of.
The three attended morning and evening worship services together Feb. 4. That night, Joseph sat between his parents on the front pew, but was “out of it” on some substance, Caudill said.
Joseph Nickell blurted out something during the service and his mother calmed him, Caudill said.
Caudill said Arlene Nickell had worked as a Christian counselor and her husband was retired from insurance sales.
They were faithful members and had raised their children in church, Caudill said.
“Just wonderful people,” he said.
A Facebook user named Michelle Burke Meyerhoff said Sunday that Arlene Nickell helped her work through a dark time after a divorce.
“What devastates me to the core, is I can visually see and hear her trying to talk her son down before he fatally shot” her and her husband, Meyerhoff wrote. “I like many other Johnson Countians knew this family, worshiped with this family and am heartbroken over this family,” Meyerhoff said.
Arlene Nickell’s sister, Debi Pinson, said Nickell was not in great health, but still worked as a counselor because she wanted to help other people, a desire her husband shared.
“That’s been their lifelong goal — to work in the church and help others,” Pinson said.
Court records list several arrests on drug and alcohol charges against a Joseph Nickell, whose listed addresses in Johnson County included one on McKenzie Branch, where his parents lived.
Petry said he could not confirm that was the same person who killed the four people Saturday.
However, Frisby said he believed it was, and in one 2015 case in which Nickell was charged with alcohol intoxication, fourth-degree assault and fleeing from police, the court file said he was released to his mother, Arlene Nickell, so that she could take him to a faith-based drug rehabilitation center.
Police cited more than one instance of finding Nickell with residue visible in a nostril from pills he had crushed and snorted.
The court record said in November 2015 that he completed treatment.
Price, the county sheriff, asked for prayer for the families in a Facebook post.
“Working a murder is never easy. Working the murders of four innocent people that are part of your community is even tougher,” Price said. “The scenes are never the same but the chilling outcome is always heart-wrenching.”
Bill Estep: 606-678-4655, @billestep1
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/slain-horrific-kentucky-killing-spree-article-1.3813695
Four slain in 'horrific' Kentucky killing spree before suspect takes own life
Police investigate the deaths of four people and their suspected assailant, Joseph Nickell, in and near Paintsville, Ky., on Saturday.
(WSAZ News Channel 3)
Nicole Hensley
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Sunday, February 11, 2018, 10:22 PM
Kentucky gunman Joseph Nickell killed his parents, his girlfriend and her mother before taking his own life during a bloody crime spree, police said Sunday.
The rampage started at his parents’ rural home in the McKenzie Branch area of Flatgap, where police found James and Arlene Nickell dead in the kitchen Saturday afternoon.
Nickell was long gone with a 9mm handgun and believed to be headed for the nearby town of Paintsville.
Cops soon found Nickell’s girlfriend, Lindsey Vanhoose, and her mother, Patricia Vanhoose, shot to death inside the Paintsville apartment. There, police also found Nickell’s body.
Kentucky school shooting suspect identified as journalist's son
Each victim was shot once.
Pastor James Caudill said Nickell struggled with drug addiction after his sister’s recent death.
“He just never did really get over that,” the pastor told the Lexington Herald-Leader.
The killings left law enforcement in the eastern Kentucky community rattled.
Anti-gun control Ky. governor calls shootings cultural problem
“This has been a horrific murder spree,” Johnson County Sheriff Dwayne Price said in a Facebook post.
“There are no words to describe the heartbreak in seeing four lives taken due to the actions of one man,” the 34-year-old lawman said. “This is one of the most disturbing acts of violence I have ever seen.”
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http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/02/1...nts-girlfriend-and-her-mother-police-say.html
Kentucky gunman killed his parents, girlfriend and her mother, police say
By Frank Miles | Fox News
Joseph Nickell, who authorities said was behind the killings of his parents, his girlfriend and his girlfriend’s mother in Kentucky on Saturday. (Facebook)
A Kentucky gunman killed his parents, his girlfriend and his girlfriend’s mother at two locations Saturday afternoon in Johnson County, before turning the gun on himself, state police said Sunday.
Cops released the victims’ names and their relationships with the shooter, Joseph Nickell.
Nickell’s parents, James and Arlene Nickell, were gunned down Saturday at a home in the McKenzie Branch area of Flatgap, Kentucky, and Joseph Nickell’s girlfriend, Lindsey Vanhoose, and her mother, Patricia Vanhoose, later were fatally shot at an apartment in nearby Paintsville, State Police Trooper William Petry said in a statement.
Johnson County Sheriff Dwayne Price said Joseph Nickell’s body also was found at the apartment in what investigators described as a murder-suicide.
Price said authorities in Paintsville, about 190 miles east of Louisville, received a 911 call on Saturday afternoon about a shooting and the Nickell parents were found dead in the kitchen of the home. After receiving a tip on the whereabouts of a suspect’s vehicle, the other two victims and Nickell were found later at the apartment complex, Price said.
A picture posted by Joseph Nickell of several weapons he owned. (Facebook)
Authorities didn’t give a motive for the shootings, which remain under investigation.
The Nickell family’s pastor told The Lexington Herald Leader that he had struggled with drug addiction for years.
James Kelly Caudill, pastor at Tom’s Branch Free Will Baptist Church, said Nickell had been through treatment, but seemed to suffer a setback after his sister, Becki, died several months ago, according to the Herald Leader.
“This boy … he just never did really get over that. I think it just inflamed his addiction,” Caudill told the Herald Leader. “It just come to a head.”
He and his parents attended morning and evening worship services together Feb. 4. That night, Nickell sat between his parents on the front pew, but was “out of it” on some substance, Caudill said.
Nickell blurted out unknown words during the service, and his mother calmed him, Caudill said.
“This has been a horrific murder spree,” Price said in a Facebook post Saturday night. “There are no words to describe the heartbreak in seeing four lives taken due to the actions of one man. I have worked in law enforcement for 34 years. This is one of the most disturbing acts of violence I have ever seen.”
Price said later in another Facebook post: “Working a murder is never easy. Working the murders of four innocent people that are part of your community is even tougher.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Arlene and James Nickell were killed at their house Saturday afternoon in the McKenzie Branch community of Johnson County. Police blame the murders on their son, who they say went on to kill his girlfriend, Lindsey Vanhoose, and her mother, Patricia Vanhoose, at an apartment in Paintsville. He then took his own life, police added. Photo provided by Michelle Burke Meyerhoff.
State
Johnson County pieces together why a son would kill his parents, girlfriend and her mom
By Bill Estep
[email protected]
February 11, 2018 09:39 PM
Updated 4 hours 6 minutes ago
A Johnson County man who shot and killed his parents and two other people before committing suicide had struggled with drug addiction for years, according to the family’s pastor.
State police on Sunday were investigating the murders of Arlene Nickell, 70, and her husband, James Wayne Nickell, 75, as well as Lindsey Vanhoose, 41, and her mother, Patricia Vanhoose, 57. Police said Lindsey Vanhoose was the shooter’s girlfriend.
The shootings unfolded at two locations in Johnson County Saturday afternoon. The parents were killed at their house and the Vanhooses at an apartment in Paintsville.
Police identified the shooter as Joseph Nickell, 45, the son of James and Arlene Nickell. Joseph Nickell killed himself after the final shooting at the Paintsville apartment, police said.
Never miss a local story.
Sign up today for a free 30 day free trial of unlimited digital access.
Nickell’s teenage son was at the house where the first shootings but escaped and called 911, police said.
Police had not established a motive by Sunday afternoon, said Trooper William Petry, a spokesman for Kentucky State Police.
“There’s going to be a lot more investigation,” Petry said.
Johnson County Sheriff Dwayne Price said in a Facebook post that the local 911 center received a call at 3:33 p.m. about a shooting in the rural McKenzie Branch community.
When Price and two deputies arrived at the residence, they found two people dead in the kitchen.
Those were the two parents, according to state police.
Joseph Nickell reportedly left his parents’ home in a black Toyota Camry.
The sheriff’s office, state police and Paintsville police began searching for the car and notified other counties to be on the lookout.
The Camry was found parked on Mill Street in Paintsville outside an apartment building.
Related stories from Lexington Herald Leader
‘A horrific murder spree’ in Johnson County leaves five dead, including the shooter
A son’s terrible toll: He killed his parents, his girlfriend and her mom in Johnson County
Police searched the building and found Lindsey and Patricia Vanhoose and the shooter all dead in an apartment.
Joseph Nickell had killed himself with a single shot, police said, and Johnson County Coroner J.R. Frisby said all four of the victims had been shot once each with a 9mm handgun.
There was no indication of a struggle before the shootings, Frisby said.
Joseph Nickell lived with his parents.
Frisby said he understood the family had had a good day before the shootings. Arlene Nickell had fixed a meal and baked a cake, before Joseph Nickell apparently started shooting without warning, Frisby said.
“It is crazy,” he said.
Frisby said Nickell left behind a note. Frisby had not seen it, but said he understood from other authorities that it referred to the heartache his parents had felt since their daughter Becki died a few months ago.
James Kelly Caudill, pastor at Tom’s Branch Free Will Baptist Church, said James and Arlene Nickell, as well as Joseph Nickell, were members at the church.
“It’s a hard lick,” he said of the deaths.
Caudill said Joseph Nickell had struggled with drug problems for years. He had been through treatment, but seemed to suffer a setback after the death of his sister, who'd also had drug problems, Caudill said.
“This boy . . . he just never did really get over that. I think it just inflamed his addiction,” Caudill said. “It just come to a head.”
However, he said Nickell’s parents loved him and he loved them. There had been no bad blood between them that Caudill was aware of.
The three attended morning and evening worship services together Feb. 4. That night, Joseph sat between his parents on the front pew, but was “out of it” on some substance, Caudill said.
Joseph Nickell blurted out something during the service and his mother calmed him, Caudill said.
Caudill said Arlene Nickell had worked as a Christian counselor and her husband was retired from insurance sales.
They were faithful members and had raised their children in church, Caudill said.
“Just wonderful people,” he said.
A Facebook user named Michelle Burke Meyerhoff said Sunday that Arlene Nickell helped her work through a dark time after a divorce.
“What devastates me to the core, is I can visually see and hear her trying to talk her son down before he fatally shot” her and her husband, Meyerhoff wrote. “I like many other Johnson Countians knew this family, worshiped with this family and am heartbroken over this family,” Meyerhoff said.
Arlene Nickell’s sister, Debi Pinson, said Nickell was not in great health, but still worked as a counselor because she wanted to help other people, a desire her husband shared.
“That’s been their lifelong goal — to work in the church and help others,” Pinson said.
Court records list several arrests on drug and alcohol charges against a Joseph Nickell, whose listed addresses in Johnson County included one on McKenzie Branch, where his parents lived.
Petry said he could not confirm that was the same person who killed the four people Saturday.
However, Frisby said he believed it was, and in one 2015 case in which Nickell was charged with alcohol intoxication, fourth-degree assault and fleeing from police, the court file said he was released to his mother, Arlene Nickell, so that she could take him to a faith-based drug rehabilitation center.
Police cited more than one instance of finding Nickell with residue visible in a nostril from pills he had crushed and snorted.
The court record said in November 2015 that he completed treatment.
Price, the county sheriff, asked for prayer for the families in a Facebook post.
“Working a murder is never easy. Working the murders of four innocent people that are part of your community is even tougher,” Price said. “The scenes are never the same but the chilling outcome is always heart-wrenching.”
Bill Estep: 606-678-4655, @billestep1
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/slain-horrific-kentucky-killing-spree-article-1.3813695
Four slain in 'horrific' Kentucky killing spree before suspect takes own life
- Tweet
Police investigate the deaths of four people and their suspected assailant, Joseph Nickell, in and near Paintsville, Ky., on Saturday.
(WSAZ News Channel 3)
Nicole Hensley
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Sunday, February 11, 2018, 10:22 PM
Kentucky gunman Joseph Nickell killed his parents, his girlfriend and her mother before taking his own life during a bloody crime spree, police said Sunday.
The rampage started at his parents’ rural home in the McKenzie Branch area of Flatgap, where police found James and Arlene Nickell dead in the kitchen Saturday afternoon.
Nickell was long gone with a 9mm handgun and believed to be headed for the nearby town of Paintsville.
Cops soon found Nickell’s girlfriend, Lindsey Vanhoose, and her mother, Patricia Vanhoose, shot to death inside the Paintsville apartment. There, police also found Nickell’s body.
Kentucky school shooting suspect identified as journalist's son
Each victim was shot once.
Pastor James Caudill said Nickell struggled with drug addiction after his sister’s recent death.
“He just never did really get over that,” the pastor told the Lexington Herald-Leader.
The killings left law enforcement in the eastern Kentucky community rattled.
Anti-gun control Ky. governor calls shootings cultural problem
“This has been a horrific murder spree,” Johnson County Sheriff Dwayne Price said in a Facebook post.
“There are no words to describe the heartbreak in seeing four lives taken due to the actions of one man,” the 34-year-old lawman said. “This is one of the most disturbing acts of violence I have ever seen.”
Sign up for BREAKING NEWS Emails
privacy policy
With News Wire Services
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/02/1...nts-girlfriend-and-her-mother-police-say.html
Kentucky gunman killed his parents, girlfriend and her mother, police say
By Frank Miles | Fox News
Joseph Nickell, who authorities said was behind the killings of his parents, his girlfriend and his girlfriend’s mother in Kentucky on Saturday. (Facebook)
A Kentucky gunman killed his parents, his girlfriend and his girlfriend’s mother at two locations Saturday afternoon in Johnson County, before turning the gun on himself, state police said Sunday.
Cops released the victims’ names and their relationships with the shooter, Joseph Nickell.
Nickell’s parents, James and Arlene Nickell, were gunned down Saturday at a home in the McKenzie Branch area of Flatgap, Kentucky, and Joseph Nickell’s girlfriend, Lindsey Vanhoose, and her mother, Patricia Vanhoose, later were fatally shot at an apartment in nearby Paintsville, State Police Trooper William Petry said in a statement.
Johnson County Sheriff Dwayne Price said Joseph Nickell’s body also was found at the apartment in what investigators described as a murder-suicide.
Price said authorities in Paintsville, about 190 miles east of Louisville, received a 911 call on Saturday afternoon about a shooting and the Nickell parents were found dead in the kitchen of the home. After receiving a tip on the whereabouts of a suspect’s vehicle, the other two victims and Nickell were found later at the apartment complex, Price said.
A picture posted by Joseph Nickell of several weapons he owned. (Facebook)
Authorities didn’t give a motive for the shootings, which remain under investigation.
The Nickell family’s pastor told The Lexington Herald Leader that he had struggled with drug addiction for years.
James Kelly Caudill, pastor at Tom’s Branch Free Will Baptist Church, said Nickell had been through treatment, but seemed to suffer a setback after his sister, Becki, died several months ago, according to the Herald Leader.
“This boy … he just never did really get over that. I think it just inflamed his addiction,” Caudill told the Herald Leader. “It just come to a head.”
He and his parents attended morning and evening worship services together Feb. 4. That night, Nickell sat between his parents on the front pew, but was “out of it” on some substance, Caudill said.
Nickell blurted out unknown words during the service, and his mother calmed him, Caudill said.
“This has been a horrific murder spree,” Price said in a Facebook post Saturday night. “There are no words to describe the heartbreak in seeing four lives taken due to the actions of one man. I have worked in law enforcement for 34 years. This is one of the most disturbing acts of violence I have ever seen.”
Price said later in another Facebook post: “Working a murder is never easy. Working the murders of four innocent people that are part of your community is even tougher.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
