ROWAN COUNTY, Ky. (LEX18) — People in Rowan County are still in shock following the Friday double murder of a mother and teen daughter, and we broke down the murder suspect's criminal history leading up to Friday's double murder.
Neighbors say Spring Street, off Highway 32 in Morehead, is a quiet and friendly place to live.
"It's a normal neighborhood. Everybody gets along, you know, we try to help each other out," said Kyle Clay, who is one of the neighbors.
But what happened Friday in a home was anything but normal.
Kentucky State Police say the bodies of 37-year-old Kayla Blake and her 13-year-old daughter, Kennedi McWhorter, were discovered in their home. This comes after Blake's co-worker asked for a welfare check to see why she didn't show up for work.
A large investigation by state police led to the Friday afternoon arrest of 44-year-old Joshua Cottrell at a hospital in the Paducah area in Western Kentucky. He is in the McCracken County detention center, facing two charges: tampering with physical evidence and murder.
"You can't make sense of it, because it's not normal. This guy's obviously like a psychopath. It's horrible," said Clay.
LEX 18 looked into Cottrell's criminal background. He was arrested and charged with murder at the age of 21 in a 2003 high-profile case.
Cottrell was accused of murdering 36-year-old Richie Phillips in an Elizabethtown motel room. Then, he stuffed his body into a suitcase and dumped it. A fisherman found that suitcase floating in Rough River Lake in Breckinridge County eight days after Phillips' family reported him missing.
At trial. Cottrell told jurors that he killed Phillips, but said it was in self-defense, saying that he feared being raped by Phillips.
A Hardin County jury convicted him of the lesser charge of second-degree manslaughter, along with theft and evidence tampering.
He was given a 20-year sentence, but with credit for time behind bars before the trial, he was released after 2 1/2 years in prison.
Fast forward to now, Blake and McWhorter's neighbors in Morehead say their murders are a scary reminder of how life can change in an instant.
"It's a very, it's an eye opening experience. It shows that it can happen everywhere. Nobody is safe from it happening to them, like it could happen to me tomorrow," said Elliott Meade.
Grief counselors were at McWhorter's school, Rowan County Middle School, on Saturday and will be there again on Monday.
In addition, students and staff are being asked to wear purple to school on Monday in honor of her.
