Double Murder-Suicide In Perry County
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Updated: 1:15 AM May 31, 2008
Double Murder-Suicide In Perry County
The shooting happened at Ben's Quick Mart on Highway 28 in Perry County in the Chavies community.
Posted: 12:20 PM May 30, 2008
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HAZARD, Ky. (AP) - A man shot and killed an elected official and
a county employee at an eastern Kentucky convenience store Friday,
then turned the gun on himself, a deputy coroner said.

Jerry Fugate, 55, shot Magistrate Jimmy Darrell Neace and county
road department employee Lewallen Caudill, deputy coroner Kyle
Wolfe said.

Police said the shooting happened around 11:30 a.m. Friday in
the parking lot of Ben's Quick Stop near Hazard, a rural town more
than 100 miles southeast of Lexington.

Wolfe said Neace, 53, of Hazard and Caudill, 60, of Jeff, Ky.,
were each shot once at close range with a shotgun.

Police did not give a motive.

Store clerk Gracie Campbell said she had to walk around bodies
in the parking lot when she got to work. She said Neace and Caudill
often had lunch at the store.

"If they were in this end of the county, they came here to
eat," she said.

A black Plymouth that Campbell said belonged to Fugate was still
parked out front Friday afternoon.

Neace's brother, Don Neace, told the Lexington Herald Leader
that he couldn't understand why anyone would want to kill him.

"It just doesn't make sense," he said.

The bodies were being taken to Frankfort for autopsies scheduled
Saturday, Wolfe said.

Perry County Judge-Executive Denny Ray Noble said Neace, whose
duties were like that of a city council member but on the county
level, was in his second term. He said Fugate, of Rowdy, Ky., was
also a county employee who had been on leave.

Walter Hughes of Perry County, who said his cousin was Neace's
ex-wife, expressed disbelief while eating Friday night at Ben's
Quick Stop.

"There are things we just don't understand, I guess," Hughes
said.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


Latest Comments

Posted by: R on Jun 21, 2008 at 12:06 AM

God rest their souls.
[ Report Abuse ]
Posted by: Ernest Location: Lexington on Jun 3, 2008 at 05:14 PM

Like I sade all I care is money in my bank account and no body matters to me when it come to my tax daollers not family no body no body has ever gave me any reson to care so why should i care about hem and his family i don't get paid to care
[ Report Abuse ]
Posted by: A Friend of one of the victims Location: easter, KY on Jun 3, 2008 at 10:26 AM

How would u feel if one of ur family had done this!All I am saying is his family deserves respect too.We need to wait till the state police release the motive if they ever find out what happened....
[ Report Abuse ]
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