On November 7, 2023, 66-year-old Ardyth Ray Prather Jr., a retired riverboat captain from Science Hill, Kentucky, was found dead in his home of apparent gunshot wounds. Officers responding to a late-night report of a shooting also found his wife, 65-year-old Joann Prather, shot and stabbed; she was alive and taken to hospital. Investigators then discovered a blood-stained door at a neighboring Raleigh Road residence and inside the body of 43-year-old Ardyth Trae Prather III, who had also been fatally shot.

Authorities named 20-year-old Austin Ray Prather, the grandson of Ardyth Jr. and son of Trae, as the primary suspect; he was located and arrested in Evansville, Indiana, on November 8, 2023, after his cellphone was tracked. He was later extradited to Kentucky and indicted on two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, three counts of first-degree robbery, and tampering with physical evidence. The family remembers Ardyth Ray Prather Jr. as a Somerset High School graduate, member of the Somerset Masonic Lodge, and a devoted family man.

If anyone knew Ardyth Jr., Trae, or Joann, or has information about the events that night, please share what you know.