Mohney was killed Friday while trying to protect Thomas from her estranged boyfriend, and Thomas was abducted and later found dead in Ohio during a multistate police search.
The suspect, 40-year-old Terry Froman, of Brookport, IL, was taken into custody in the Cincinnati area. Froman faces murder and kidnapping charges in Graves County and one count of aggravated murder in Ohio.
Police said Froman suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound that authorities described as non-life threatening. As of Sunday, Froman was still in the hospital.
Froman's vehicle was stopped along Interstate 75 by Ohio authorities, who found Thomas dead inside. Her cause of death has not been released. It's also not known if she died in Kentucky or Ohio.
According to Graves County Sheriff Dewayne Redmon, earlier on Friday authorities found Mohney's body in the living room of his mother's home in Mayfield, while checking on Thomas after she failed to report to work. Redmon said there were signs of a struggle. According to Graves County Coroner Phillip McClain, Mohney died of multiple gunshot wounds. McClain said the teenager was shot twice, the second shot being the fatal blow. McClain said Mohney died at approximately 5 am on Friday.
Redmon said Kentucky authorities started tracking Froman when video showed a bloodied woman trying to flee from a vehicle at a convenience store in Paducah. He said a man caught her, put her back in the vehicle and fled. Authorities said the vehicle, a white 2004 GMC Yukon, matched the description of Froman's vehicle. Investigators also learned that Thomas was Froman's ex-girlfriend and suspected she might have been the woman in the video at the convenience store.
Redmon said authorities received another call that Froman was covered in blood when he went to his mother's house in Paducah. That prompted the multistate police search that included the vehicle's license plate and descriptions of the man and woman inside.
Ohio authorities spotted the vehicle Friday afternoon and stopped it in the Middletown-Monroe area north of Cincinnati. Redmon said investigators are trying to determine a possible motive. He said he didn't know how long Thomas and Froman had dated and when their relationship ended. He also said there was no sign of forced entry into the house.
Mohney attended Mayfield High School. According to Kim Hamby, the school district's spokeswoman, students formed prayer circles after learning of the tragedy on Friday, and school counselors and youth ministers were available to help students deal with their grief.
