Woman recalls encounter with man wanted for murder in Pulaski County

RUSSELL COUNTY, Ky. (WTVQ) — A close encounter, with an alleged killer.
A woman,  recalling her run-in with 20-year-old Austin Prather at a gas station, after police say he shot and killed his father and grandfather, and injured his grandmother in Pulaski County.

Prather reportedly fled the scene and went on the run.
Police were searching for Prather before he was taken into custody in Indiana on Thursday.

“What if he, what if it should have, what if it would have took a different turn? And he was mad because I didn’t give him the $5 or that could have been us. I don’t know,” said Michaela Dudgeon, who recalled her encounter, with 20-year-old Austin Prather at a gas station in Adair County.
Dudgeon was unaware Prather was on the run, charged with murder and attempted murder,  after police say he shot and killed his father and grandfather and shot and stabbed his grandmother.

“The look on his face and the tone in his voice didn’t match because he was unusually calm. But at the time it wasn’t unusual. So, yeah, it’s not, people will come up to you randomly and just ask you, do you have $5, $10, sometimes $100,” said Dudgeon who said Prather asked her for money for gas.

She says that she told Prather, she did not have spare cash and he drove off.
Adding that to her something felt off, “it was a little bit odd how he was driving such a nice car.”

It wasn’t until her cousin sent her a facebook post with Prather’s picture, saying he was on the run, and wanted for murder, that everything clicked.

‘When my, when my cousin sent me the attachment, I was like, that’s, that’s not the same kid and then I saw the Jeep and I was like, oh, oh my gosh, it did. I was like, there’s no way like that is crazy. If you look at the picture posted of, of, of the, of the wanted post and then if you look at his mug shot, it’s not, he doesn’t even look like the same kid, and that was a little bit odd,” she says.

Dudgeon says she is still in shock, but grateful things did not take a turn for the worse.

“Don’t take any moment for granted, you don’t know who you’re around, you don’t know when their last moment is, you just never know,” she adds.

Prather was arrested on Wednesday, in Evansville, Indiana.
He is pending extradition proceedings in Indiana and Kentucky.