Caitlyn Kaufman: What to know as trial over slain Nashville nurse begins
The trial against two men charged after Nashville nurse Caitlyn Kaufman was fatally shot while driving to work in December 2020 is set to begin. Two days of jury selection preceded the opening of the trial, which is expected to kick off Wednesday morning.
Kaufman was working as an intensive care unit nurse at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital West and tending to COVID-19 patients. The evening of Dec. 3, 2020, she was fatally shot on a busy corridor along Interstate 440 in West Nashville. She was 26.
Devaunte Lewis Hill, 23, and James Cowan, 30, were later arrested in connection with Kaufman's death. Both face first-degree murder charges. Nashville police said road rage may have been a motivation in the shooting.
Here is what to know heading into the trial.
Watch live:Trial begins for two charged in Nashville nurse Caitlyn Kaufman's death
Who was Caitlyn Kaufman?
Kaufman was from Chicora, Pennsylvania, a small town in Butler County that sits 50 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. She moved to Nashville in 2018 after accepting a job at Saint Thomas West, fulfilling her longtime desire to live in Nashville.
"It was the city of her dreams," her mother, Diane Kaufman, told The Tennessean in 2020.
Caitlyn Kaufman:Nursing came natural to daughter with Music City dream
The job was her first after graduating from Clarion University of Pennsylvania in 2016, and then Butler County Community College. She was an award-winning nurse who worked on the frontlines, caring for COVID-19 patients as the pandemic surged in Nashville and nationwide.
In addition to her 221-pound Great Dane Zeus, Kaufman loved the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Penguins. Her hobbies included boating, wakeboarding and water skiing.
"She had a great work ethic," her mother said. "She was studious, she was determined and she was truly just a beautiful person from the inside and outside."
How the shooting unfolded
Investigators believe Kaufman left her apartment in Lebanon, Tennessee, and was in her Mazda CX-5 SUV en route for a 7 p.m. shift at the hospital the night of Dec. 3, 2020. She was shot sometime between 6:05 p.m. and 6:10 p.m. between the Hillsboro Pike and West End Avenue exits on I-440 west. Kaufman pulled her car to the shoulder of the busy interstate, where she died quickly at the scene, according to detectives from the Metro Nashville Police Department.
It wasn't until 9 p.m. that a Metro Parks officer spotted the Mazda and pulled over, believing it was a single-car wreck. That's when he found Kaufman dead inside the bullet-riddled SUV.
A team of law enforcement officials assembled in the days that followed to seek information from the public as they pieced together clues in Kaufman's case. At one point, nearly $65,000 in reward money was raised as the story of her death spread nationwide. A GoFundMe to help her family with funeral expenses and other costs also raised $42,000.
Arrests made after citizens tip off police
Investigators worked around the clock as tips poured in about the shooting, MNPD said.
Hill was arrested without incident on Dec. 11, 2020, at his East Nashville apartment, police said. According to an arrest affidavit, a concerned citizen told police they had information about the killing and identified Hill as the person who shot Kaufman. The tipster also told police about the possible whereabouts of the gun used in the shooting.
Police said they found the gun the night before arresting Hill and matched it to 9 mm shell casings found at the scene. An analysis of Hill's cell phone data also placed him in the I-440 area at the time of the shooting. Investigators said Hill did not know Kaufman.
Information from that same tip also led police to Cowan, the affidavit showed.
Cowan was arrested the night of Jan. 12, 2021, in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Antioch, MNPD said. Investigators believe Cowan was in the vehicle with Hill the night Kaufman was killed, also based on a cell phone data analysis.
Following along live with the trial
What kind of sentences could Hill and Cowan face?
Cowan and Hill could face up to life in prison without parole if convicted on their first-degree murder charges, according to a spokesperson for the Davidson County District Attorney.
Cowan also faces federal gun and drug charges. During his arrest, MNPD said officers discovered a "substantial" amount of Xanax pills and fentanyl, along with $2,100 in cash. While searching his car, detectives said they also found a Glock pistol with an extended magazine and a handgun.
Cowan was previously convicted for robbery in Davidson County in 2011 and sentenced to six years in prison.
His current federal charges include felon in possession of a firearm; possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. Those charges were brought against him in January 2021.
Cowan's federal case is still pending in court, records show. If convicted of the federal charges, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years.
Reach reporter Rachel Wegner at RAwegner@tennessean.com or find her on Twitter @RachelAnnWegner.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Caitlyn Kaufman trial: What to know about Nashville nurse shooting
