News from January 26, 2006 issue



Man shot near Shady Grove
A rural Caldwell County man was treated and released from the hospital Tuesday night, just hours after being shot in a confrontation with an assailant at his Creswell home.

Mike Towery, 35, who lives within sight of the Creswell Church on Creswell Church Road four miles south of Shady Grove, was shot twice just before 4 p.m. He was wounded once in the chest and once in the shoulder.

People at the scene of the shooting said that Towery was alert after the assault and told them that two black (or perhaps Hispanic) men and a caucasian woman had tried to rob him. State police confirmed, however, that only one person entered the Towery home and fired several shots at him with a handgun. The assailant or assailants fled the scene in an undetermined direction, state police said.

Right after the shooting, police dispatches had indicated that authorities believed the get-away vehicle, reported as a black car, might have gone toward Shady Grove. However, Trooper Stu Recke, the Kentucky State Police public affairs officer for Post 2, could not confirm Wednesday morning the number of assailants, a description of them or a description of the car.

Recke said police have not established a motive for the shooting. Det. Devin Brewer was going to interview the victim Wednesday, Recke said.

Police found Towery in his home when they arrived. Towery's wife had left the house within the hour before the shooting.

Police say that it does not appear that the shooting was related to either of the previous two incidents in the Fredonia area over the past few weeks. On Dec. 30, Larry Yancy, 56, of Fredonia was shot in the leg by a home intruder and that case remains unsolved (see additional article below). In early December, Robert Lee Dorris, 73, of the Fryer community not far from Tuesday's shooting, was found bludgeoned to death at his home on Ky. 70. Two men have been charged in the Dorris murder.

Another incident at Fredonia home
Kentucky State Police are saying very little about another reported burglary at the Larry Yancy home in Fredonia Saturday night.

Police say Yancy called 911 after reportedly hearing a burglar in the house when he returned to his home in a subdivision on the northern edge of Fredonia around 9 p.m. He left the residence immediately and called 911 from a cell phone.

During a previous home intrusion on Dec. 30, Yancy suffered a gunshot wound when he confronted burglars in his garage. That incident, and the one reported Saturday night, remain under investigation. State Police Det. Ben Wolcott says there are "suspicious circumstances" associated with the most recent incident, but would not elaborate.

Neighbors in the tiny village of Fredonia remain on edge, fearing that Yancy has been victimized by not one but two home invasions. There may have even been a third incident. Yancy reported that a newly installed alarm system was activated two weeks ago, but no one gained entry into the residence.

"Some neighbors have put in alarm systems. It has really unnerved everybody," said one of Yancy's neighbors who wished to remain anonymous. "You should be safe in your home."

The woman said she has become more cautious, more aware of her surroundings and has kept a loaded gun by her side since the first break-in at Yancy's home Dec. 30.

Two men have been arrested in connection with a murder in northern Caldwell County, but police are not sure if that crime was related to the initial Yancy burglary. The latest incident at Yancy's home happened after the murder suspects were in custody.

Police say they don't want to jeopardize the investigation at this point and will not publicly disclose any details of their findings until more is known about the latest report from Yancy's home.

Caldwell County Sheriff Stan Hudson said Tuesday that his department has been approved by the county to hire an extra deputy to maintain patrols in the Fredonia area. He said with all that's been happening in that part of the county recently, it makes sense to have a deputy assigned to the area.