By Wayne Gates
Editor
Michael Wilcox has confessed to the murders of Courtney Fowler and Zach Gilkison.
“He acknowledges that he was present and involved in the death of two people,” said Brown County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Zac Corbin on April 20. “It’s certainly an incriminating statement that implicates him in the involvement of two deaths.”
Fowler’s body was discovered in the home that Stephanie Wilcox, Michael Wilcox’s mother, shared with her son about 6:15 on Thursday, April 16. “I just went into my sons bedroom and his girlfriend is laying there with blood everywhere…she’s just crumpled into a corner…I didn’t even see her. There was a blanket there and I walked past her to look outside and I saw this foot, so I moved the blanket off and there she was,” Wilcox is heard to say on the 911 call she made to the Brown County Communications Center.
Wilcox was arrested in Hamilton County after a chase through Brown, Clermont and Hamilton counties. He was first spotted by Brown County Prosecuting Attorney Investigator Buddy Coburn and his wife Vicky. Buddy Coburn said that he and his wife had just left the Wilcox home to obtain a search warrant when they saw Wilcox approaching in a red Subaru. “We backed into a driveway and waited on him. He went around the corner and when he saw police cars at the house, he slammed on his brakes. threw it in reverse and backed up rapidly. At that point, we pulled out of the driveway we were in and I kind eased him to the side of the road with my vehicle and we both got out. I had him at gunpoint, trying to get him to show me his hands. He was screaming and shouting things, including some things that implicated him in the homicide,” Coburn said.
Then the situation escalated. “He said he had a gun. At that point, we both had ahold of him through the drivers window. He lunged forward like he was reaching for the floor. We both jerked him back up into the seat. Prior to that, I had reached in and turned the ignition off, but he managed to get the car started again, threw it in gear and he drove off, dragging Vicky and I up the road,” Coburn said.
He also tried to grab Coburn’s gun, as reported by Vicky Coburn to the Brown County Communications Center. “This is Vicky Coburn, Georgetown Police! Michael Wilcox is just leaving on J. Bolender Road. Have the deputies at the scene respond. (Dispatcher: ‘Vicky, are you injured?’) We’re alright. He tried to drag us. He’s a maniac and we’re trying to follow him….he screamed at us, he tried to grab Buddy’s gun,” Vicky Coburn said on the 911 call.
Vicky Coburn worked with dispatchers to coordinate a response to find Wilcox, with the Coburns driving into Felicity. There, they found Wilcox again, but he was able to throw his car into reverse, ramming their truck in the process, and taking off again. He was eventually caught by New Richmond officer Jesse Kidder, who also refused to shoot Wilcox, even though Wilcox acted very aggressively, even telling Kidder he had a gun and demanding to be shot.
Coburn said he is glad things turned out the way they did for himself and his wife.
“We were very fortunate and blessed not to have been injured and not to have to have killed him. That’s something we would have had to live with for the rest of our lives. This guy appeared to be trying to do a suicide by cop. When he said ‘I have a gun’ and lunged under the seat, I think he was expecting me to shoot him. Just prior to that, he was screaming ‘Just do it, Just do it, kill me.'”
Brown County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Carl Smith said that once Wilcox was in custody, he was questioned by Detective Sergeant Buddy Moore and Detective Larry Meyer. “They spoke to him at various times throughout the night. It was a long, drawn out process, but our everybody did a very good job and I’m very proud of them. We were able to get somebody off the street that was a danger to the citizens of Brown County.” Moore said that Wilcox has expressed remorse for the murders and gratitude to Kidder for not shooting him.
Corbin said that while Wilcox in behind bars, the case is not over. “We are continuing the investigation. There are still some things that we are putting together like a timeline of events and determining just what occurred. Through that process we will determine the final charging decisions.” Corbin added that investigators still have not learned the reasons behind Wilcox’s actions. “He acknowledges that he was present and involved in the death of two people, but everyone wants to know why, and that is what we are continuing to look into. We are examining other sources of information to determine not only the timeline, but what was happening in the lives of these individuals that would cause someone to take these measures.”
Corbin also said it appeared to him that despite some of the actions of Wilcox, he appeared to be generally in control of his mental state. “I think there was enough going on to show that this individual knew what he was doing. I think that his mental state was intact enough for him to be responsible for his actions.”
Corbin, Smith and Brown County Prosecuting Attorney Jessica Little all praised the cooperation and efficiency shown by all agencies involved that had Wilcox behind bars within three hours of the initial 911 call. “Everything fell together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, Smith said. “The Sheriff’s Office, the coroner, the prosecutors office, BCI and the authorities in northern Kentucky all worked together very well.”
“Local law enforcement acted very quickly and effectively. He was behind bars before the crime scene had even been processed,” Corbin said.
Wilcox also faces charges in Kenton County, KY for the death of Gilkison. His body was discovered in Elsmere, KY on Friday morning, April 17 after Wilcox had already been arrested.