In the quiet town of Paintsville, Kentucky, a tragic event unfolded, leaving the community in shock and mourning the loss of 40-year-old Lindsay Marlene VanHoose. On Saturday, February 10, 2018, Lindsay's life was cut short in a devastating act of violence that also claimed the lives of three others.
The incident was part of a horrifying quadruple murder-suicide perpetrated by Lindsay's boyfriend, Joseph Nickell.
In a spree of violence, Nickell first fatally shot his own parents, James and Arlene Nickell, at their home in the McKenzie Branch area of Flatgap, Kentucky. He then traveled to an apartment in Paintsville where he shot and killed Lindsay and her 57-year-old mother, Patricia Vanhoose. After committing these heinous acts, Joseph Nickell took his own life at the apartment.
Lindsay was born on October 27, 1977, in Prestonsburg, Kentucky. She was a mother to a son and two daughters. Her sudden and violent death, alongside her mother, sent ripples of grief through the community.
As the perpetrator died by suicide, there were no arrests to be made in connection with this case. The investigation concluded that Joseph Nickell was the sole person responsible for the four murders. A funeral service for both Lindsay and her mother was held at the Hager Hill Free Will Baptist Church, and they were buried in the Cumbo Cemetery at West Van Lear.
