2nd suspect arrested in Nashville killing of Butler County native
Nashville police arrested a second suspect in the killing of Caitlyn Kaufman, a Butler County native who was shot on her way to work as a nurse at a Tennessee hospital.
James Cowan, 28, was arrested at a Nashville area apartment complex, according to the Metro Nashville Police Department.
BREAKING: James Cowan, 28, the 2nd suspect in the 12/3 murder of Nashville nurse Caitlyn Kaufman, was just apprehended as he arrived at a Hickory Hollow Place apt complex. MNPD undercover detectives, TBI & ATF agents surveilled Cowan as he traveled there from a Sidco Dr motel. pic.twitter.com/HDggVYJYp7
— Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) January 13, 2021
He is charged with criminal homicide, according to the Nashville Tennessean.
Police named Cowan as a suspect last week, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation added him to its most wanted list, the Tennessean reported.
His arrest follows that of Devaunte Hill, 21, who Nashville police last month arrested and charged with homicide.
Hill’s arrest came less than an hour after police announced a $50,000 reward has been issued for information about the case. The tip led investigators to Hill, and to a 9mm handgun which produced shells matching those at the crime scene.
A Nashville police officer stopped just before 9 p.m. Dec. 3 when he saw Kaufman’s SUV on the side of I-440, believing it had been involved in a crash.
Instead the officer found Kaufman, 26, dead inside, with numerous shots fired into the vehicle. Police believe the shooting happened between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., when Kaufman was on her way to work in the intensive care unit at St. Thomas West Hospital.
Police have not disclosed a motive for the shooting. They said Kaufman and Hill did not know each other.
Kaufman grew up in Chicora, graduated from Butler Senior High School and attended Clarion University, where she was a member of the dive team, according to Tribune-Review news partner WPXI-TV.
Her family said moving to Nashville had been Kaufman’s lifelong dream.
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