Nunn said he was at end of his rope, wanted revenge, police report says

By Bill Estep - bestep@herald-leader.com

MUNFORDVILLE — Former state Rep. Steve Nunn told state police hours after his former fiancée was shot to death that he "was at the end of his rope and wanted revenge" because of a domestic violence dispute with the woman, according to arrest records filed in Hart County.

The arrest warrant, which was filed in Hart County, provides several new details in Nunn's case, including: Nunn wrote a seven-page letter in which he used "derogatory terms" in reference to Amanda Ross; Nunn apologized for "not completing the job" when he slit his wrists in the cemetery where he was eventually arrested; Nunn told police Ross caused him to lose his job and his money; and he evaded the questions when investigators asked whether he killed Ross.

Nunn, 56, was charged late Monday with murder in Ross's slaying. He also was charged with violation of a protective order.

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Ross, 29, was found lying in the back corner of the parking lot at 6:36 a.m. Friday at Opera House Square Town Homes, 541 West Short Street. She died later that morning at University of Kentucky Medical Center.

The warrants for Nunn's arrest were served by Kentucky State Police on Monday night at the Hart County jail, where Nunn is being held on six charges of wanton endangerment of a police officer in Hart County for allegedly firing a gun near police officers. Vice-Chief Regional District Judge Derek Reed set Nunn's bond at $57,000 for those charges.

Nunn, the son of former Gov. Louie B. Nunn, had been in The Medical Center at Bowling Green since Friday, when police found him in a Hart County cemetery just hours after Ross was shot to death.

Nunn told police at the cemetery and in the ambulance to the hospital "that he was sorry for not completing the job," Lexington police Detective Todd Iddings wrote in the criminal complaint against Nunn. Nunn also "spoke of revenge and going to the penitentiary," Iddings wrote.

Many have said Ross and Nunn had a rocky relationship. In a court hearing earlier this year, Ross alleged that Nunn struck her four times in the face and threw her against a hallway lamp, breaking it. She said he then threw a cup of bourbon in her face. Nunn said Ross blocked his path to prevent him from leaving her apartment. He admitted slapping her and said Ross offered to let him leave if he let her strike him in the face. She did so, he said.

A family friend says Ross was scared of Nunn and eventually got a license to carry a gun to protect herself after she obtained the protective order.

Nunn resigned as deputy secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services in March after he was ordered by a judge to stay away from Ross.

During an interview with state troopers at The Medical Center, Nunn said since the domestic violence dispute with Ross he hadn't been able to find a job and had become a burden to his family.

But when troopers asked Nunn whether he killed Ross, "he either evaded answering the question or advised that he did not want to answer that question," Iddings wrote in the complaint.

According to the complaint, preliminary ballistics tests showed that bullets recovered from Ross's body were .38 special caliber. The handgun Nunn had at the cemetery was a five-shot .38 special revolver, the complaint states.

Nunn fired one shot — the last round in the gun — as police approached him at the Hart County cemetery, the complaint states. When officers recovered the gun, there were five spent shell casings in it.

Officers recovered the seven-page letter in the car Nunn was driving that addressed Nunn's legal issues with Ross and the subsequent problems the situation caused, Iddings wrote in the complaint. The letter also mentions revenge and speaks of Ross in derogatory terms, the complaint states.

Officers also found Nunn's wallet in the car. Iddings wrote in the complaint that investigators traced a credit card in the wallet and discovered it had been used in Versailles, which is on the way to where Nunn was headed, at 6:50 a.m. — nearly 15 minutes after Ross's body was found.