Booking photo of Joseph Bryan Capstraw (Photos from Elizabethtown, KY Police Department)

Woman murdered, met killer at Rainbow Gathering in Lumpkin County

Suspect previously arrested for attempted murder

By Denise Ray, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Joseph Bryan Capstraw confessed to killing a woman he met at the Rainbow Family of Love and Light in the Chattahoochee National Forest in Lumpkin County.

Kentucky law enforcement arrested Capstraw, 20, of Jacksonville, Fla., July 7 after a woman was found dead early that morning at an Elizabethtown Ky. residence. Elizabethtown Police De-partment charged Capstraw with murder, EPD spokesman Chris Denham said. Cap¬straw was detained in the Har¬din County Detention Center.

Police were called to the area of McCullum Avenue around 2 a.m. to investigate a suspicious person. There, officers located a witness. According to an arrest citation, the witness reported Capstraw said he needed a hospital and made the statement, “I killed her.” A woman was found deceased in the 500 block of Joan Avenue.

Following a verbal altercation with the female, Capstraw said he blacked out, according to the citation. When he recovered, he said he saw the woman had been badly beaten and he had multiple injuries to both of his hands. Capstraw admitted to having beaten the woman to death, the citation said.

As of the evening of July 8, Denham said I would like to take this opportunity and thank everyone with the overwhelming response about the identity of the female victim involved in the murder in Kentucky. The victim has been identified. The response with Social Media was instrumental in getting the word out and I thank all that contacted me with information. At this time, we cannot release the identity of the female victim until we receive further notification from Elizabethtown Police Department.
Thanks!
Sheriff Stacy M. Jarrard

This was their 47th gathering, but the first in Georgia. The event ran from mid-June to July 4.

Capstraw was charged with attempted murder related to a stabbing in May 2017 in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, according to media reports. The charges were dropped later that month, according to court records.

Capstraw playing a banjo