By Matthew Holloway |
Jacob Couch, the 32-year-old Alabama man brutally attacked with a hatchet in Tucson on April 5th, has died according to outlets citing updates from his family. The suspect in the shocking attack, Daniel Michael, 25, is now facing first degree murder charges.
Tucson Police told KGUN that Couch was attacked following a brief verbal confrontation with a man alleged be Michael at a bus stop in Tucson as Couch and his wife Kristen traveled back home to Alabama after staying in Los Angeles for a year. Speaking with Fox10, the Tucson PD said, “The suspect initiated a confrontation with the couple during which time he produced a sharp-edged weapon and struck the male victim.” Initially, Michael was charged with two counts of aggravated assault and held on a $1 million bond until Couch passed away Thursday night after fighting for his life for nearly two weeks in intensive care.
A report from 13 News KOLD explained that the suspect allegedly approached the couple and began verbally accosting them. Jacob appeared to answer the man before reaching down to gather the couple’s belongings. The assailant then struck Couch with a hatchet or machete. Jacob’s Sister-In-Law Erica Sims told the outlet, “The injury cut the artery in the back of his neck in half. It went so deep that it hit his skull.”
Police were able to identify the Michael as the suspect through surveillance footage, and he was taken into police custody without incident three days after the attack. He denied knowledge of the attack, but claimed that he was drinking at the time. Court documents revealed by KVOA stated that police were able to recover a hatchet from Michael’s home, and the suspect reportedly confessed when shown footage of the attack. Kristen told reporters that prior to the attack she “looked at him and could tell he was agitated and told my husband don’t say anything else to him.”
“I told him we were leaving like okay just calm down, and he waited until my husband bent down to come up behind him and attack him.”
Prior to Jacob’s death, Kristen, Erica, Couch’s mother Elizabeth, and his brother Luke gathered with members of the Tucson community in prayer for him. “Just for a minute, I looked around and just to see all these people who have different lives, different jobs and they took the time out of their day to come out here and there,” Luke Couch told KGUN. “It’s just amazing. Just, I’m at a loss for words.”
In an interview with Fox News, Luke told reporters that Michael’s attorneys asked the court for a lesser bond amount claiming that “self-defense” couldn’t be ruled out. He described the attack in detail saying detectives had already determined, “There is no evidence to support any claims of self-defense.”
“And they said that he was going to be trying to grasp straws, grasp anything. I mean, my brother was attacked from behind while he was bent over. That is not self-defense,” Luke added.
“I want to make sure this man never does this again and no other family has to go through what my family has went through. To see my brother lying in a hospital bed and unable to move, unable to do anything, it hurts so bad to know that I wasn’t able to be there to protect him because he would have done it for me in a heartbeat,” he told Fox News. “We as a family want swift justice.”
The family established a GoFundMe page to defray the costs of Jacob’s hospitalization, travel, and funerary expenses, which has raised over $69,000 as of this report.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
