Kentucky State Police Det. Bryan Johnson has opened a murder case after a man was shot in the Pineville area of Bell County on Saturday.
According to a press release from KSP Public Affairs Officer Shane Jacobs, Kentucky State Police, Post 10 Harlan received a call from Bell County Dispatch at 2:58 a.m. about a male individual that had been shot on Dorton Branch Road. Deputies from the Bell County Sheriff’s Office along with Trooper Josh Messer and Trooper Taylor Mills responded to the scene. Once troopers arrived at the scene they located a male individual deceased from a gunshot wound.
Jacobs said a preliminary investigation indicates that several individuals were in a wooded area off of Dorton Branch Road in a Jeep Cherokee. Melissa Sanchez, 39, of Fourmile admitted to shooting Houston Lankford, 37, of Fourmile. Lankford was pronounced deceased at the scene by the Bell County Coroner Jay Steele.
Sanchez was arrested at the scene and has been charged with murder. She is being lodged in the Bell County Detention Center.
Lankford has been sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Frankfort for an autopsy. At this time the case is still under investigation by Johnson. Also assisted at the scene were Lt. Randy Surber, Det. Josh Cox, Messer, Mills, Bell County Sheriff’s Office and Bell County EMS.
