STRUNK, Ky. (LEX) — A McCreary County family is demanding answers and criminal charges two months after a 60-year-old man was beaten to death outside a home — and Ring camera video obtained by Lex News appears to show the attack.
Gene Cooper died on April 7 after going to his on-again, off-again girlfriend's house to pick up paperwork, according to his nephew, Billy Miller.
"She called him to come there to get that truck title," Miller said.
Ring camera video obtained by Lex News shows Cooper in a silver pickup waiting outside the home for nearly ten minutes before getting out of the truck and approaching the front door. After Cooper knocks, a man attacks him.
The McCreary County coroner's report states Cooper died from injuries to the head, neck and torso. The coroner ruled his death a homicide.
Miller says the man seen in the video beating Cooper is the girlfriend's boyfriend, who was living at the home. Miller identified that man as Billy Prophet.
Kentucky State Police opened an investigation into Cooper's death after he was found unresponsive on the porch.
Miller disputes the state police characterization of what led to the violence.
"The state police, they said that Gene engaged in a verbal and physical altercation," Miller said. "I watched the video and you watched the video. Where did Gene engage in a verbal or physical altercation?"
The video continues for another 15 minutes and appears to show the man repeatedly punching, kicking and spitting on Cooper's unmoving body.
Miller said he could not bring himself to watch the video in its entirety.
"I walked away from the video after he grabbed my uncle by the throat and forced him on the ground and started beating him," Miller said. "I've not seen past that. It's best that I not see past that until justice is served."
Miller described his uncle as a family-oriented man with a deep connection to nature and his Native American heritage.
"He loved nature. He was a Native American. He's just a good old country boy," Miller said. "He's not the perfect person. But nobody is. Everybody has flaws and everyone sins, but he didn't deserve to be done the way he was done."
The fear of losing another family member weighs on Miller every night.
"Every night when I go to bed, I pray to the Lord that I don't get another call at 3 a.m. telling me that I've got another dead uncle or my dad's dead or just one of my other family members are dead," Miller said.
As of now, no one has been charged in Cooper's death. Miller says he wants that to change.
"I want them to do the right thing and charge this man for the charge he's guilty for," Miller said.
