Detective Major Jim McDaniel opened the lid of the drugstore's Dumpster. Inside lay Kathy's lifeless body. She was nude and wrapped in a blanket, dead of a stab wound to the back of the neck and there were injuries, bruises, and contusions to other parts of the body including the anogenital region. The news of the heinous and completely senseless crime made Yukon residents angry. Medlock was not a suspect in the murder, but when he went to his job at a restaurant the next day a co-worker angrily remarked that whoever did this to Kathy should be "nailed to a stump."

Overcome by feelings of guilt, Medlock left work, walked across the street to a phone booth, dialed 911, and announced that he had killed Kathy and where they could find him. Police soon arrived to arrest him. Taken into custody, he readily confessed everything as he casually smoked cigarettes and sounded as relaxed and matter-of-factual as if he was discussing a baseball game. Jim McDaniel said that he didn't see a whole lot of remorse.