In the quiet, tight-knit communities along the
Kentucky-Virginia border, the news of January 8, 1951, arrived with a violence
that few could comprehend. It began with a dispute over faith and ended in a
massacre that would leave a family shattered and a father spending the rest of
his life behind bars.
A Night of Terror at Fedscreek
Millard Cochran, then a 58-year-old father of six,
lived a life of manual labor in the hills of Pike County. But beneath the
surface, a bitter resentment had been brewing. According to contemporary
reports, Cochran had grown increasingly "irked" by his family’s
religious devotion. Specifically, he took issue with their attendance at a
"private pocket church" where they attended night services and
engaged in "shouting."
When Cochran learned the family had attended services again
the previous evening. According to Cochran’s own statement to the authorities,
a violent argument flared:
- Cochran
ordered his eldest son, Sturgill (23), to "set down and keep
quiet".
- Sturgill
allegedly refused and brandished an iron poker.
- Cochran
claimed he was struck in the back of the head by an unknown person during
the scuffle.
- Retaliating
with a .38 caliber pistol, Cochran opened fire on his wife and
children.
The Victims
When Sheriff Esta Conway arrived at the home near the
Virginia border, she discovered a gruesome scene. Cochran had shot four members
of his family:
- Killed
Outright: His wife, Cynthia (51), and his son, Chester (19).
- Critically
Wounded: His eldest son, Sturgill (23), who was rushed to a
hospital in Grundy, Virginia.
- Wounded:
His daughter, Sarah (14), who suffered a flesh wound to the arm.
- Survivors:
Three other children—16-year-old Bonanzo and 11-year-old twins William and
Ella—witnessed the shootings but escaped physically unhurt.
In a haunting display of "old-time mountain
custom," Cochran had laid the bodies of his wife and son side-by-side on a
bed and tied red handkerchiefs around their heads—from the chin to the top of
the skull—to prevent the mouths of the dead from opening.
Baptism and Life Behind Bars
The aftermath of the crime was as surreal as the act itself.
Within 18 hours of being baptized, Millard Cochran appeared in court. His path
to the witness stand included a massive public ritual at the Levisa Fork of the
Big Sandy River, where an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 people watched the
confessed killer be baptized into the Feds Creek Church of Christ.
Following the immersion, Cochran was taken to the graveyard
where his wife and son were buried nearby. Sheriff Conway reported that he
threw himself upon their graves, sobbing and praying.
The spiritual display did not grant him legal leniency.
Circuit Judge E. D. Stephenson sentenced Cochran to two life terms plus 21
years, to be served consecutively. The Commonwealth’s Attorney remarked,
"I think they will keep Cochran out of society as long as he lives".
The End of the Road
Millard Cochran spent the next fourteen years in prison. His
death certificate confirms he died on January 24, 1965, at the Kentucky
State Reformatory in La Grange. At age 73, the man who had claimed he was
"sick in the head" succumbed to gastrointestinal hemorrhaging caused
by stomach cancer. He was eventually returned to Pike County for burial in the Cochran
Family Cemetery.
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