In the quiet community of Somerset, Kentucky, the life of 37-year-old Joshua Oakes was cut short on the night of Friday, February 17, 2017. A resident of nearby Science Hill, Oakes was a father of two daughters and a U.S. Navy veteran who worked as an engineer at Graham Packaging. Remembered by friends and family as a kind-hearted and generous individual who was never serious and always smiling, his sudden death sent ripples of grief through his community.
On that February evening,
deputies from the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office were called to a home on Pumphouse Road around 8 p.m. following a report of a shooting. At the scene, they found Joshua Oakes, who was pronounced dead. Witnesses at the home reported that Oakes and another man, Erik S. Hardwick, 31, who lived at the residence, had been involved in an argument that escalated tragically. Following the shooting, Hardwick fled the scene, prompting an overnight manhunt.
The search for Hardwick involved Sheriff Greg Speck and his deputies, who were assisted by a police dog. Their efforts concluded the following morning at 10:45 a.m. when Hardwick was located on Old Pumphouse Road and taken into custody. He was subsequently arrested and charged with murder, and booked into the Pulaski County Detention Center. An autopsy was performed on Oakes the morning after his death. The case was later presented to a grand jury to determine the nature of the shooting.
