Vicki Conner
Nicholas Rucker indicted in murder case
By Timothy Wyatt
The Morehead Press
WHITLEY COUNTY — A Corbin man accused of fatally shooting his girlfriend in May before fleeing the scene and eluding police for more than a month was indicted Monday by a Whitley County grand jury.
Nicholas Rucker, 38, was named in a three-count indictment for charges that occurred May 22.
Count one of the indictment charges Rucker with murder.
Count two of the indictment charges Rucker with tampering with physical evidence.
Count three of the indictment charges Rucker with possession of a handgun by a convicted felon.
On the date listed in the indictment, law enforcement says Rucker shot Vicki S. Conner, 57, at a residence where the pair had been staying. Roger Witt, the homeowner of the residence, testified at Rucker’s preliminary hearing in Whitley District Court last month, where he stated that there were at least five other individuals in the home at the time the incident took place.
According to Witt, Rucker and Conner had been living with him for “a couple of weeks,” and they helped him around the house in exchange for board.
During Witt’s testimony, he detailed the moments leading up to the incident on the night of the shooting, saying that Conner had come from the bedroom to the living room with the others as she was making a grocery list, but was called back to the bedroom by Rucker. Within just a few minutes, Witt said he heard a gunshot. Rucker soon emerged from the bedroom, according to Witt, holding a gun out in the palm of his hand with his arms covered in blood.
“The first thing he said to me when he came out was ‘Oh, my God, Roger. Vicki just shot herself,’” said Witt, during the hearing.
Witt stated that he got his phone, called 911 and went down the hallway to the bedroom where Rucker and Conner had been, where he said he found Rucker standing over Conner’s body. Witt claimed that he continued the call with emergency personnel on speakerphone while attempting to perform CPR on Conner. It was during that time, Rucker fled the residence, according to Witt. Rucker never returned to the home.
The investigating officer, Kentucky State Police Post 11 Detective Deckers Larkey, also testified during last month’s hearing, stating that witnesses told police that they saw a male, identified as Rucker, leaving the home with blood on his arms and carrying a gun.
Larkey also stated that Conner suffered a single gunshot wound to the head, which was later determined by the state medical examiner’s office in Frankfort to be the cause of death during an autopsy. The entry wound was located just above Conner’s brow line on her forehead and the exit wound in the rear of her skull. The examiner stated that the wound showed sever stippling, something that is common with gunshot wounds received at close range, according to Larkey.
A Taurus G2 9mm handgun was later located approximately a mile from the residence where the shooting occurred, which was buried under some dirt and leaves. Larkey said during the hearing that the gun was “damaged and disabled” when it was found and appeared to have blood on it. The gun is believed to be the weapon used to kill Conner and has since been sent off to the KSP Crime Lab to be analyzed.
Soon after the incident, police obtained a warrant for Rucker’s arrest, though he could not be located for several weeks. Multiple reports of people claiming to have seen Rucker were received by different law enforcement agencies during that time, with some coming out of Tennessee. Rucker continued to elude police until a tip was received in the early hours of July 4 that he had been spotted at a residence on Meadow Lark Circle in Corbin, where deputies with the Knox County Sheriff’s Department located him walking out of a wood line and through the backyard of a residence.
According to the deputies, Rucker ran into a nearby home and then out of one of the exits in attempt to flee. He ran from deputies on foot before being tackled to the ground. According to deputies, Rucker refused to be handcuffed, but after following a brief scuffle with deputies, he was taken into custody.
Rucker currently remains jailed in the Whitley County Detention Center.
He is also facing charges in Knox County as a result of his arrest.
An indictment is a formal charge by a grand jury; it is not a conviction or an admission of guilt.
https://www.themoreheadnews.com/kent...58c71b5dd.html
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