Checklist noting to ‘dispose of’ boyfriend’s body among evidence in Kentucky shooting

WHITLEY CITY, Ky. (FOX 56) — Kentucky State Police (KSP) made a disturbing discovery early Friday morning while searching for a missing man.

On Sept. 9, Damion Poole’s mother reported him missing to the McCreary County Sheriff’s Office. According to court documents, Poole was believed to be living on Farm Ridge Road with his reported boyfriend, Daniel Kearney.

Troopers said that the pair had moved there together from Colorado.

Early Friday morning, Sept. 12, Kentucky State Police troopers went to search the home and found what investigators believe to be Poole’s body. An arrest citation notes that he’d been shot twice in the head and had been deceased for multiple days.

His body was found in a “back room” and covered up with several blankets. Troopers described Poole’s ankles being bound with a nylon rope, and it’s believed his body had been moved. According to an arrest citation, investigators also found the bodies of two dogs, both of which had been shot and still lay where they had died.

State police recounted finding several bullet holes, a pile of sheets, shirts, coats, and cardboard covered in blood by the front door, an AR-style rifle, other guns, and several pools of blood.

Neighbors told police that the couple was known to fight, sometimes paired with gunshots. An arrest citation noted that Kearney had been described as “aggressive,” ” violent,” and even as a “powder keg.” They emphasized that they hadn’t seen Poole in a while, and when Kearney was asked, he’d say he was in another state after leaving during the night and never coming back.

Kearney was known to stay in a camper on the property, troopers said, and inside, investigators found a checklist of things he needed to do. Among the list were reminders to clean up the home, get rid of evidence, paint everything with an odor sealant known as Kilz, and dispose of Poole’s body.

According to court documents, the checklist detailed needing to burn anything left and spreading the ashes along roadways in other states.

Kearney was arrested by KSP just after 3 a.m. on Friday. He was lodged in the Knox County Detention Center on a $1 million bond.

He has been charged with murder, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and second-degree cruelty to animals.