Corbin man facing four murder counts makes first court appearance

The Corbin man charged in the murders of four people, including an unborn child, made his first appearance in Whitley District Court Tuesday.

       Paul Brock

Via video arraignment before Judge Cathy Prewitt, a not-guilty plea was entered on behalf 37-year-old Paul Brock on four counts of murder and one count of tampering with physical evidence stemming from the shooting deaths of 33-year-old Tiffany Myers and her grandmother, 74-year-old Mary Jackson at a home on Ellison Street in Corbin Saturday afternoon. Corbin Police said an autopsy confirmed that Myers was pregnant at the time of her death, resulting in a third murder charge.

Corbin Police located a fourth body Monday afternoon in a shallow grave in a wooded area off of Smith Cemetery Road, near the intersection of U.S. 25W and Fifth Street Road in Whitley County.

The body has been identified as 45-year-old Aaron Byers, whom police say was Myers’ husband.

Prewitt set the case of a preliminary hearing at 1 p.m. Tuesday to determine whether there is probable cause to present the case to a Whitley County Grand Jury.

“Thank you, your honor,” was all Brock said during the hearing.

Brock’s remains in the detention center on a $1 million cash bond.

Corbin Police Captain Coy Wilson, who is leading the investigation, said police have still not determined a motive for the murders.

Wilson said that Brock knew Myers and Jackson and had been let inside the home at 102 Ellison Street, off of North Depot Street, where the first shootings occurred Saturday.

Police were called to the home belonging to Jackson at about 4:30 p.m. in response to a 911 call reporting the shooting.

Wilson said it was Myers’ brother, who was in a bedroom of the home when the shooting occurred, who called 911.

The brother escaped through the bedroom window and made his way to a neighbor’s home.

Wilson said police determined that Myers was shot three times and Jackson once with a .38-caliber handgun.

“We didn’t find any shell casings, so we are thinking it was a revolver,” Wilson said.

Wilson said through the course of the investigation, Brock was deemed a person of interest and was brought into the Corbin Police Department for questioning Sunday.

During the questioning, Wilson said while Brock admitted to being at the residence, he claimed that he had given Byers a ride and that it was Byers who had shot the women.

Wilson noted that when Brock was brought in, he had a significant amount of mud on his clothing.

Based on that, and blood found inside Brock’s truck when police executed a search warrant on the interior of the vehicle, law enforcement searched Brock’s property off of Smith Cemetery Road Monday.

Wilson said the body was located in a shallow grave on property that adjoins Brock’s.

“It was just deep enough to put his face down in,” Wilson said of the grave.

Wilson said the body was later identified as Byers. The cause of death was gunshot wounds.

“It appears he was shot first,” Wilson said of Byers when asked about the timeline adding that while he has questioned Brock, to date he has declined to provide details, including a motive.

A sample of the blood found inside the truck has been sent to the Kentucky State Police Crime Lab in Frankfort to determine whose it is.

Though it would be up to the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office whether or not to seek the death penalty, the case does qualify under Kentucky law as there are multiple victims.