A routine morning at a Monticello logging yard turned fatal on September 10, 2024. A verbal dispute on R Barnett Road between 75-year-old Samuel R. White and 66-year-old Willard Ray Upchurch escalated, and White was shot. Emergency responders found White in the roadway around 11:30 a.m.; he was pronounced dead by the Wayne County Coroner.

Kentucky State Police investigators located Upchurch a short time later and took him into custody without incident. He was charged with murder and tampering with physical evidence and lodged in the Wayne County Detention Center. The firearm believed to have been used was recovered nearby. An autopsy was scheduled at the State Medical Office in Frankfort. Unconfirmed reports mention a possible land dispute as a motive, but no official motive has been released.

If anyone witnessed the incident on R Barnett Road that morning or has information about the events leading up to the shooting, please share what is known.