Deputies: Southern Ky. man charged with murder was a suspect in earlier assault

PULASKI COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) - A man is in jail after Pulaski County deputies say they charged him with a Saturday morning murder and an assault just hours before that murder.

Investigators say 57-year-old John Stacy, of Somerset, was arrested after a shooting death on Paradise Lake Drive.

Earlier Saturday morning, deputies responded to Parrot Drive where a woman told deputies she had been assaulted by Stacy. Deputies say Stacy came into the woman’s home with a loaded gun, held her against her will, and threatened her.

The woman was taken to the hospital by a relative. While deputies were investigating the murder, they followed up with the assault victim and determined Stacy was a suspect in the murder.

Sergeant Cody Cundiff said the area is so rural that the chances are very slim the two acts, which occurred less than a mile apart, could be committed by separate people.

“Basically, because of the timeframe of the events and the fact that both of them happen to be involving a firearm,” Cundiff said.

Cundiff says there’s no connection between the two victims and Stacy. However, he says the assault victim was key to helping them track down and arrest the suspect.

“It was paramount,” Cundiff said. “Without having knowledge of who it was that assaulted her, we wouldn’t have known that it was Stacy that could’ve been involved.”

We’re told the assault victim is recovering and has non-life-threatening injuries.

Cundiff says citizens called 911 after Stacy was seen acting strangely inside a store and was he later arrested on KY 461 during a traffic stop.

Deputies say Stacy is charged with attempted murder, burglary, assault, and kidnapping for the incident on Parrot Drive, in addition to the murder charge for the Paradise Lake Drive investigation.

Cundiff added that Stacy’s home burned down the day after the assault, but they could not say right now if arson might be the cause.

“If the fire department goes out there and believes it to be arson. They’ll contact the state fire marshal for an investigation,” said Cundiff.

Stacy is being held in the Pulaski County Detention Center on $500,000 bond.

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