Kentucky police say they have found a body near the scene of a highway shooting that left five people dead. The suspected shooter is the perpetrator.

Kentucky State Police officials announced Wednesday, the 12th day of the manhunt for a suspect wanted in connection with a highway shooting that left five people injured, that they had discovered a body not far from where the incident occurred.

Kentucky State Police Trooper Scottie Pennington said in a statement that investigators are working to determine the identity of the body found near Exit 49 in Laurel County.

Investigators were searching for 32-year-old Joseph Couch, who they said was armed and dangerous and was the prime suspect in the Sept. 7 incident that occurred on Interstate 75 near London, Kentucky.

According to the Laurel County Sheriff's Office, 20 to 30 shots were fired from a hill near Exit 49 on I-75, hitting at least a dozen vehicles.

Couch was initially named as a suspect after officers found his SUV abandoned on a wooded trail near Exit 49, officials said. An AR-15 rifle that Couch purchased in the hours before the shooting and that investigators believe was used in the incident was also found in the woods near Couch's vehicle, along with a bag with Couch's name written on it, officials said.

A day after the shooting, Couch was declared the prime suspect.

In addition to the search of the national forest, a tip led investigators to search a home in Laurel County this week, but they were unable to find any evidence that Couch had been there, officials said.

Before the highway shooting, according to the warrant, a Laurel County 911 dispatcher received a call from a woman who claimed Couch had texted her before the highway shooting, telling her he was “going to kill a lot of people. Well, at least try.” The text was sent to the woman at 5:03 p.m. on Sept. 7, about a half-hour before the highway shooting began, according to the warrant.

“Couch sent another message to [the woman] Among other things, it said: ‘After this I will kill myself,’” the arrest warrant states.

According to Kentucky State Police, the search for Couch on Tuesday continued to focus on the dense woods of the Daniel Boone National Forest.

Both state and federal teams combed at least 28,000 acres of the more than 700,000 acres of national forest.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said additional state funding would be provided to support ongoing search efforts.

Because of the manhunt, local schools had to remain closed for over a week. They reopened on Tuesday under heavy police protection.

“We will not live our lives in fear,” Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said during a press conference on Tuesday.

The school district said in a statement that the reopening plan “makes the safety of our students and staff our top priority.”