State police find Pike County homeowner dead after reported burglary

Kentucky State Police called to investigate a burglary at a Pike County home found the homeowner dead when they arrived.

Around 8 a.m. Sunday, the state police’s Pikeville post received a call about a robbery in progress at a residence on Marrowbone Creek Road in Elkhorn City, a news release said.

Officers found the homeowner, Timothy Justice, 60, dead at the scene. Foul play is suspected, state police said.

The cause of death is under investigation and Justice’s body was sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.

Detective Joseph Coleman is conducting the investigation. Police ask that anyone with information related to the death contact the Kentucky State Police Pikeville Post at 606-433-7711.

Rick Childress

Lexington Herald-Leader

502-219-6483

Rick Childress covers Eastern Kentucky for the Herald-Leader. The Lexington native and University of Kentucky graduate first joined the paper in 2016 as an agate desk clerk in the sports section and in 2020 covered higher education during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. He spent much of 2021 covering news and sports for the Klamath Falls Herald and News in rural southern Oregon before returning to Kentucky in 2022.