Content warning: The following article contains disturbing details of violence.
Joshua Cottrell, the man accused of stabbing a mother and her daughter to death in their Rowan County home, has been indicted on two counts of murder, a filed indictment reports.
Cottrell has also been indicted on a charge of tampering with physical evidence.
LEX 18 previously reported that a complaint warrant detailed 44-year-old Cottrell allegedly stabbed 37-year-old Kayla Blake and her teen daughter Kennedi McWhorter resulting in their deaths.
The warrant detailed that upon arrival, emergency personnel found Blake and McWhorter dead and a homicide investigation ensued. KSP detectives reportedly found Blake dead in a back bedroom and McWhorter was found dead across the hall.
Blake, the warrant read, "appeared to have been stabbed/bludgeoned." Meanwhile, McWhorter was also found stabbed. The warrant read that Cottrell allegedly moved the bodies and noted that neighbors witnessed Cottrell at the home on Sept. 18.
Law enforcement found Cottrell with "blood on his clothes," the warrant read.
Cottrell has been charged with murder and tampering with physical evidence. His bond is set at $1 million cash.
The night of Sept. 24, Cottrell was booked into the Montgomery County Detention Center.
UPDATE Sept. 19 at 6:27 p.m.
According to KSP, the suspect arrested in connection with the double murder has been identified as 44-year-old Joshua W. Cottrell from Morehead.
Police say that Cottrell was found at a Paducah area hospital at approximately 2 p.m. Cottrell was treated, released, and charged with two counts of murder and one count of tampering with physical evidence. He was taken to the McCracken County Jail.
UPDATE Sept. 19
A person of interest has been arrested, and authorities are investigating a double murder in Rowan County after two people were found dead Friday morning.
Around 11 a.m., Morehead Police Department dispatch got a 911 call from someone who was performing a welfare check on a co-worker who did not report to work.
Upon arrival, first responders discovered two “obvious deceased individuals.” The Rowan County Coroner’s Office was called to the scene where he pronounced 37-year-old Kayla Blake and her 13-year-old daughter, Kennedi McWhorter, dead at the scene.
Police say a person of interest has been arrested in western Kentucky and officials add there is no threat to the public.
KSP says that the Kentucky State Police Eastern Crime Lab is on the scene, which remained active as of 4:58 p.m.
Original:
Authorities reported that a murder investigation is underway after two people were found dead, including a juvenile, near Park Hills Drive in Rowan County on Friday.
Trooper Haney with KSP Post 8 noted that the murder is unrelated to the escaped inmate reported in the area.
Haney added that the incident is developing and LEX 18 will have additional information as it becomes available.
