Kentucky Man Commits Quadruple Murder After Family Forces Him Into Hospital

Growing up together in Kentucky, cousins Joey Vincent and Terry Wedding were close in age and inseparable — but while one would thrive later in life, the other would commit an unspeakable crime.

In high school, Joey was a popular student who played basketball. Terry, meanwhile, struggled with his studies and suffered bullying.

After graduating, Joey became the pastor of New Cypress Baptist Church in Greenville and applied for a job at the local police department. During the same period, his cousin Terry seemed a little lost. “I’m not aware of anything Terry wanted to do,” says his paternal uncle, William F. Wedding.

William notes he didn’t enjoy spending time around his nephew, who he explains was “unpredictable.”

In November 1991, Joey began a job with the Greenville police. Four years later, he met his wife, Amy, while on patrol. The two married in August 1996.

The pastor/patrolman began a bright new chapter in life with his new wife, and the newlyweds lived together in a home just across the street from loner Terry and his parents, Todd and Beverly Wedding.

Unbeknownst to Joey and Amy, while they enjoyed wedded bliss, Terry was losing the battle with his mental health issues.

According to William, his nephew, Terry, was miserable at the time. “It seemed like he was in some kind of zombie state or something,” he recalls.

Joey also grew concerned, and he eventually decided to speak with Terry’s parents after his cousin had several run-ins with the law.

In 1998, doctors diagnosed Terry as bipolar, and he was prescribed lithium. By Christmas that year, it appeared he had turned a corner and was doing better.

The peaceful period unfortunately didn’t last, and on June 15, 1999, a terrified Beverly called Amy and told her that Terry hadn’t been taking his medication. She asked Amy for a ride to the courthouse so she could obtain a 72-hour involuntary mental health warrant for her son.

Joey, who still worked for the Greenville Police Department, was one of the officers who got into a physical struggle with his cousin Terry while detaining him.

On June 23, 1999, Terry was released from Western State Hospital. Shortly after, Amy admitted to a friend she was fearful of dying and said she felt as if someone was watching her.

Four days after Terry’s release, on June 27, 1999, emergency dispatchers responded to a 911 call about a disturbance at the Wedding residence. “I received a call at home saying there was an officer down, shots fired, and they gave me Joey’s address,” says Asst. Chief of Police Darren Harvey, the third officer on the scene.

According to an eyewitness, Terry shot his cousin, Joey, through a window and then walked to the car and shot Amy. Terry then, the witness said, took the slain couple’s infant daughter, Brooklyn, and went to his parents’ home across the street.

Harvey recalls he saw Joey fatally shot and lying outside his vehicle. Inside the car, Harvey spotted Joey’s dead wife, Amy. An autopsy later determined Amy was pregnant at the time of her murder.

With his nearby house surrounded by state and local police, Terry exited, put the baby down and surrendered without incident.

Inside Terry’s home, investigators found stockpiled weapons and ammunition. “He was prepared for, basically, war,” Kentucky State Police Det. Sgt. Carolyn Boyd says.

Detectives then came to the grim realization that there were two people missing: Terry’s parents, Beverly and Todd.

During questioning at the station, Terry told Det. Sgt. Boyd that he beat his father with a baseball bat, shot his mother, and dumped their bodies in a wetland preserve. Terry then confessed to investigators that he shot his cousin Joey before turning the gun on Amy.

Though he denied it, Det. Sgt. Boyd theorized Terry committed the quadruple murder because he was angry about being forced into the hospital and his cousin Joey was one of the officers who took him into custody, with the help of Terry’s father.

Compounding the issue, Boyd adds, “Amy and the mom [Beverly] went to the county attorney’s office to get the mentally-ill warrant, so when [Terry] got out, he was really upset with that whole bunch.”

On Feb. 27, 2001, Terry Wedding pleaded guilty but mentally ill to murdering his parents, his cousin and his cousin’s wife. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“He’s never going to get out, and that’s the safest place for him,” Boyd says.

For more on this case, stream American Monster: “A Wedding and Four Funerals” on Max.