Why the search for the Kentucky I-75 shooting suspect is so difficult

(CNN) — Thousands of acres of wilderness. Sinkholes. And the possibility of a gunman around every corner.

These are among the difficulties facing the dozens of law enforcement officers employed in the search for Joseph Couch, the man suspected of firing an AR-15 from a cliff ledge on the side of the interstate about nine miles north of London, Kentucky, striking 12 cars and wounding five people on Saturday.

“It’s kind of like a jungle,” said Kentucky State Police spokesperson Scottie Pennington on Monday. The forest is home to cliffs, sinkholes, caves, culverts, and creeks and rivers – all of which complicate the hunt for Couch.

Drones, helicopters, search dogs, and crews from federal, state and local agencies are all participating in the manhunt in a remote stretch of Kentucky’s Daniel Boone National Forest. The nearly 72-hour search has focused on the densely wooded area near where responders found Couch’s semi-automatic rifle, ammunition, car and a phone thought to be his.

“Our main focus is to remain in those woods until we find him,” Pennington said at a Tuesday news conference. “And some people say, well what if he’s not alive anymore? Well, we’re going to stay in the woods till we find him, and that’s our job – if he’s dead or alive, it’s our job to try to find him.”

Officers have even been forced to use machetes to cut through the dense brush.

“He couldn’t have picked an area that is any more remote and difficult for us to try to locate him,” Laurel County Sheriff’s Deputy Gilbert Acciardo said Sunday.

“That exit along I-75 is probably the most remote throughout Kentucky,” he said. “It’s wooded. It’s heavily wooded. It’s got hills. It’s got rocks.”

The Daniel Boone National Forest includes 708,000 acres of federally owned land, including “some of the most rugged terrain west of the Appalachian Mountains,” according to the US Forest Service. The forest features “steep forested slopes, sandstone cliffs and narrow ravines,” according to the service.

The search for clues also took them to the home where Couch lived, Laurel County Sheriff John Root said Tuesday. He declined to say what kind of evidence was collected at the house.

There have been tips that have led authorities to investigate locations outside the forest but “none of those have led anywhere,” Pennington said, noting more tips “are still under investigation.”

Fighting against the clock

Craig Caudill, a wilderness education expert and director of Nature Reliance School, a Kentucky-based program located less than 80 miles from the area where law enforcement is searching for Couch, said that in this part of the state, Couch could also encounter black bears and venomous snakes.

And as they work, search personnel are fighting against the clock: Although some officers camp out overnight, authorities have mostly shut down their search efforts after sunset, citing increased danger facing officers.

“We really have to suspend it at dark because of the danger element of our guys being in there and maybe walking right up on this individual,” said Acciardo. Officers will stay “in strategic positions to observe” overnight.

“At nighttime, our helicopters can fly. They are looking for heat sources,” Pennington told reporters. More helicopters have joined the search, he said Tuesday.

It’s not a matter of if Couch will be found, but when, Caudill told CNN Tuesday.

Caudill, who is contracted by federal and state governments to teach and train law enforcement, said four of the teams he has worked with are actively searching the area.

Law enforcement has said that they think Couch may still be armed and should be considered dangerous.

“Authorities are not just facing logistical challenges searching in difficult terrain, but they are also searching for someone who has clearly shown a desire to cause indiscriminate loss of life after opening fire onto a freeway,” Josh Campbell, CNN security correspondent and former FBI agent, said.

“That makes him an extremely dangerous fugitive,” Campbell said. “Officers are having to work their way through a dense forested area slowly and methodically with their heads on a swivel, knowing a very real threat to their own safety could be lurking behind the next tree.”

The search is ‘tedious and stressful’

Another challenge is the slow, methodical pace at which officers have to work to preserve any evidence they find, according to Pennington.

“You go very slowly, because you’re not just looking for him, you’re looking for evidence,” he said at a Monday news conference.

As far as what authorities are looking for, Caudill said it’s hard to say.

“I train law enforcement to do what they do, and I don’t want to say anything that would help the bad guys,” he said.

“He can’t float on the earth,” Caudill said. “Anytime he takes a step, he’s going to leave a sign.”

The work itself is exhausting, prompting authorities to swap out teams to rest. Search personnel have to carry heavy equipment, according to Acciardo, which makes the work even more “tedious and stressful.”

Police have said that while they’re operating under the assumption that Couch is still in the area, it’s possible he could have left – or that he could no longer be alive. In a text message sent to a woman ahead of the shooting, he said he would “kill a lot of people” and then “kill myself afterwards,” according to a warrant for his arrest.

The warrant charges Couch with five counts of attempted murder and five counts of first-degree assault.

As the search continues, law enforcement officials have said they’re hoping to “wear down” Couch, who may be alone without access to food or water in the woods.

“He (Couch) can survive a couple weeks,” Caudill estimates. “Now whether he’s a functioning human within a few days is the issue. Just after three to four days without proper hydration, his body’s not going to function properly, he’s not going to have any good decision-making skills.”

“That’s what I call getting into a diminished decision-making position,” he said. “Therefore, he’s going to not make the decisions he needs to take care of himself, which is a good thing for law enforcement in that regard.”

And that’s exactly what law enforcement hopes will happen as they “apply steady pressure and wear Mr. Couch down the longer he is in the woods,” according to Pennington.

“Hopefully he’ll eventually just walk out the woods and give yourself up,” he said.

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