Wednesday, February 23, 2000
Hitchhiker wanted in shooting along I-75
Suspect ran away near truck stop
BY KRISTINA GOETZ
The Cincinnati Enquirer
WALTON — Boone County Police searched late Tuesday for a hitchhiker wanted for shooting a man in the head after he was picked up on Interstate 75 near Middletown earlier in the even ing.
The shooting victim, Rufus Collett Jr., 35, of Corbin, Ky., was taken by helicopter to University Hospital about 7:30 p.m. and was in stable condition. Three others in the car with him — his brother, Chester Collett, 41, and Pa tricia Taylor, 38, both of Corbin, and the driver, Trina Brock, 26, of Hyden, Ky. — were not injured.
Police did not know whether Mr. Collett was shot on the interstate or on the off ramp near the Flying J Travel Plaza truck stop, where the vehicle stopped. When the car pulled up to a stop sign after leaving the interstate, the gunman left it and ran behind the plaza's restaurant.
Lt. Jack Banks of the Boone County Police Department said there was a dispute in the car and a struggle.
“We have witnesses who say he ran back west and deposited a handgun in a trash can,” Lt. Banks said. Police later located the gun.
The suspect is described as a 5-foot-10 white male with a thin build, dishwater-blond hair and a goatee, dressed in a blue shirt and faded blue jeans.
“Some girl came in and said, "Call 911. Somebody's been shot,'” said Loretta Kurtz, manager of the truck plaza. “She was pretty pan icked.”
The Boone County Emergency Management Team searched the area late Tuesday, with assistance from Taylor Mill, Covington, Independence and Kenton County authorities. About 300 homeowners within a 2-mile radius of the truck plaza were alerted.
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