MOREHEAD (09/19/25) — A man convicted in connection to a 2003 area murder case has been arrested in connection to a double-murder in eastern Kentucky. State Police arrested 44-year-old Joshua Cottrell of Morehead in connection to the murders of 37-year-old and 13-year-old Kennedi McWhorter, both of Morehead. Cottrell was located at a Paducah-area hospital; he was treated and released and booked into the McCracken County Jail. Cottrell was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for the 2003 strangling death of Rineyville resident Richie Phillips in an Elizabethtown motel room, then stuffing into a suitcase and dumping into Rough River Lake. He was reportedly released after serving two- and-a-half years of the sentence.
