Joseph Bryan Capstraw was charged with murder in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, on Saturday, nearly a year after charges against him in a Jacksonville Beach stabbing were dropped.
According to police, officers were directed by a witness to 504 Joan Ave, where they found a deceased woman. The witness reported that Capstraw allegedly confessed, saying, “I killed her,” and expressed a need to go to the hospital.
Capstraw reportedly met the victim at a “hippie festival” called the Rainbow Family of Living Light Gathering in Georgia. The two hitchhiked to Kentucky, where the woman’s body was discovered.
Capstraw told officers he had “blacked out” after a verbal altercation with the woman. Upon regaining consciousness, he found the woman severely beaten and noticed injuries to his own hands. He admitted to police that he beat the woman to death.
Authorities confirmed the victim’s injuries were fatal.
In May 2017, Capstraw was charged with second-degree attempted murder after allegedly stabbing a homeless man in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Capstraw claimed self-defense, admitting he stabbed the man and buried the knife before contacting police.
The charges were dropped a month later after witnesses supported Capstraw’s self-defense claim.
