Ky. fugitive spotted as manhunt stretches into sixth day, report says
BURKESVILLE, Ky. -- A Kentucky fugitive accused of shooting at police in two states was reportedly spotted in Cumberland County Thursday afternoon as a manhunt stretched into a sixth day.
Floyd Ray Cook, a 62-year-old convicted rapist and robber, has eluded police since Saturday afternoon, when he allegedly shot and wounded a Tennessee police officer. He allegedly shot at officers in Kentucky hours later.
Thursday, a homeowner said that her son saw someone he thought was Cook on their street in Burkesville, Ky. and called police, reports CBS affiliate WTVF. Police were descending on the area where an active search was underway, reports the station.
The massive manhunt launched Saturday, after Cook allegedly shot and wounded Algood, Tennessee, police officer Ahscari Valencia during a traffic stop that afternoon. Valencia was saved by his bulletproof vest.
Just over an hour later, a Kentucky State Police trooper recognized Cook's car and tried to stop him in rural Cumberland County, just beyond the Tennessee state line. Cook tried to speed away, but hit a tree and jumped from the truck on foot. He allegedly opened fire on the officer, missed and fled on foot into the woods.
Sunday, authorities say he pulled a gun on a teen in Burkesville, in southern Kentucky, WTVF reports. According to the station, police said the teen was in his car with his girlfriend, pulling up to his father's house, when Cook came out of the woods, told him to stay in the car and pulled a gun on him.
The boy told the station he recognized Cook from media reports.
Police reportedly cornered Cook on a nearby road and said they believed he was barricaded inside the home of the teen's father. SWAT teams swarmed the home Monday after an hours-long standoff, but Cook wasn't inside, reports the station.
On Wednesday night, two of Cook's known associates, both with lengthy criminal histories of their own, were arrested after a violent confrontation with U.S. Marshals in White House, Tennessee, state Highway Patrol Lt. Bill Miller told reporters.
Police said they believed Cook was traveling with 50-year-old Troy Wayne, described as an "associate" from Raywick, Kentucky, a town of 134 people 50 miles south of Louisville where Cook was last known to live.
A search team Wednesday night first found Wayne's girlfriend, 35-year-old Katy McCarty, drenched in water and mud in a field, Miller said. They later found Wayne in a nearby neighborhood. Both were arrested, though police did not specify the charges.
Cook's whereabouts remained unknown.
Cook, with a criminal record that includes burglary, assault and rioting, was already wanted by the law. He was convicted of raping a 19-year-old in Marion County, Kentucky, in 1971, records show. He was required to register as a sex offender and remains on parole.
Cook's sex offender registration form lists an address in Lebanon, Kentucky. Several months ago, the Marion County Sheriff's Office, making routine checks on the sex offenders in the county, discovered he was no longer living there, said Sheriff Jimmy Clements. Deputies there took out a warrant for his arrest and started searching for him. They discovered he was living at an address in Raywick. They staked out the home but were never able to catch him.
Cook was also indicted in July on charges of first-degree trafficking in methamphetamine and tampering with physical evidence, according to Hardin County court records in Kentucky. He was scheduled for arraignment in August but did not appear. He is now also wanted on suspicion of attempted murder of a police officer in Tennessee.
A swath of the border between Kentucky and Tennessee has been gripped with fear of the man authorities described as "armed, dangerous and desperate."
