Second Suspect Arrested in Fatal Shooting of Tenn. Nurse, 26, Who Was Killed While Driving to Work
Facebook Caitlyn Kaufman
Authorities in Nashville have arrested a second suspect in connection to the fatal shooting of Caitlyn Marie Kaufman, a 26-year-old nurse who was killed while driving on the freeway to work.
James Edward Cowan, 28, was taken into police custody on Tuesday night after a warrant for his arrest was issued earlier this month, according to Metro Nashville Police Department.
Online jail records show that Cowan is currently being held on several charges of probation violation and one count of homicide.
Law enforcement officials said in a press release that officers apprehended Cowan at the Hickory Hollow Place apartment complex in Antioch, Tenn.
Undercover detectives — alongside agents from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — had surveilled a car that Cowan was riding in and followed it from a local motel to the apartment complex, according to police.
Nashville Police Department James Edward Cowan
Investigators believe Cowan had been staying at the motel for the past few days.
Police said two pistols, half a pound of marijuana and five grams of a white powder substance were also found in the vehicle at the time of Cowan's arrest.
Cowan's arrest comes a month after 21-year-old Devaunte L. Hill was taken into custody in connection to Kaufman's death.
On Dec. 3, 2020, Kaufman was heading to her 7 p.m. shift at St. Thomas West Hospital, where she helped treat COVID-19 patients, when at least six shots were fired at her SUV, police said in a previous press release.
An officer who spotted the still-running vehicle on the shoulder of I-440 stopped shortly before 9 p.m. to check on it, reportedly thinking it was a single-car crash, and found Kaufman inside.
She died at the scene.
Facebook Caitlyn Kaufman
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Detective Chris Dickson said in a press conference following Hill's arrest on Dec. 11 that Kaufman did not know the suspect, but he "can't speak to if it was road rage or not" that led to her death.
Dickson also said that Hill, after consenting to an interview with investigators, allegedly "did implicate himself in Caitlyn's murder."
Police said in a release on Tuesday that Cowan and Hill know each other and cell phone data gathered by investigators puts both men in the area of the crime scene at the time of Kaufman's death.
Hill is facing homicide and assault charges.
It is unclear if either Cowan and Hill have retained legal representation who can speak on their behalf or if they have entered pleas at this time.
According to her Facebook profile, Kaufman — who was from Chicora, Pennsylvania — had been working at St. Thomas West Hospital since December 2018.
She graduated from Clarion University in Pennsylvania, where she was a member of the women's swimming and diving program, according to ExploreClarion.com.
