The hatch-wielding suspect beheaded Jacob Sofa, almost 32, at a bus stop in Toscon, Arizona earlier this month, when he was returning to his hometown of Alabama with his wife.
The suspect, 25-year-old Daniel Michael – has been held in Pima County’s $1 million cash debt on felony assault charges for a seemingly random crime.
He is waiting for another court hearing at the end of the month.
Meanwhile, Couch has been hospitalized on life support for the past two weeks since the April 5 attack, and officials say he is not expected to survive the injury.
He and his wife, Kristen Couch, were in California, mourned the loss of their son a year ago. The couple decided to return the cross-country to their homeland of Arab Alabama when their lives collapsed in Tucson.
The attack occurred at 10am, about two miles from the University of Arizona campus, just a block away from Tucson Police Headquarters.
“He has the biggest heart I think I’ve ever met,” Couch’s younger brother Luke Couch told Fox News Digital. “And I really mean that. He was just a caring person. He loved his family. He was really big about his family.”
Authorities have released few details about the potential motives for the crime. Michael’s lawyers at the first bond hearing argued that “self-defense” could not be ruled out when seeking less bonds from judges.
However, the victim’s brother told Fox News Digital that the detective had determined that there was “no evidence to support the self-defense claim.”
“And they said he was trying to grasp the straw and grab anything. So my brother was attacked from behind while he was bent. That’s not self-defense,” Luke Couch said.
“I want this guy to never do this again and make sure that other families have to go through what my family has gone through. It hurts so badly to know that he couldn’t protect him because he did it for me with a heartbeat to see my brother lying in a hospital bed and not moving and doing anything,” the brother told Fox News Digital. “As a family, we want quick justice.”
“My brother was a nice guy and he didn’t deserve this. No one deserves to attack hatch on the side of his neck. It’s very heinous,” he added.
Investigators and witnesses said Luke Couch further told him he was told what had happened.
“They were on their way home from Los Angeles. Their bus stopped in Tucson. They always wanted to see the desert,” Luke Couch said of his brother and sister-in-law. “Someone told me to wake up, and my brother told him to care about his own business, you know, they didn’t do anything and caused no trouble. And Kristen could tell the guy was really upset, so she said they were up.”
“My brother had just got off the bus and he bent to collect things. “He bent to collect things, and the man came behind him and shook a hatch. And the witness said he lifted an x over his head and lifted the swan.”
Luke Couch said his brother has recently begun to open his eyes a little, but hasn’t shown much improvement. Jacob is also the father of a 15-year-old daughter.
His brother said doctors evaluated him as limited brain function after suffering significant blood loss.
“Doctors don’t give us much hope,” Luke Couch told Fox News Digital. “We are a small family in a small town in Alabama, but we believe God can move the mountains and the power of prayer.
Fox News Digital reached out to the office of Democrat Pima County Attorney Laura Conover for comment but did not immediately respond.
Luke Couch wondered why Michael was not first charged with attempted murder. He also had a message for the prosecutor to handle the case.
“Don’t slip this through the crack, don’t slip through the cracks as a family. Don’t let this guy come out and do this again,” he said. “If anyone is on the fence about whether it is “eye to look at” or the ethical or the very thing due to harsher punishment, I would suggest they go and see my brother lying in a hospital bed. ”
“This country is not as safe as we thought it would,” continued Luke Couch. “From my understanding, this has become a Tucson pattern, so don’t think we can escape this to these criminals. I’m not from this area and I certainly don’t know, but I can talk about what happened, but that’s pointless.
Family set a gofundme To cover the costs of staying near a hospital in Tucson.
A statement obtained by Fox News Digital, Tucson Police Station Officers said they found an “unresponsive man with sharp trauma on the southeast corner of East Broadway Boulevard and South Sixth Avenue” around 10am on April 5th.
“Bytesmen tried to provide assistance to the victims, and officers took over their efforts to save lives until the Tucson Fire Department arrived. TFD took the victim to Banner University Medical Center with a life-threatening injury.
Detectives from the Robbery and Assault Division later responded to the scene and “we learned that the male suspect had approached the victim and his wife at the bus stop,” police said. “The suspect began a conflict with the couple, during which he produced sharp weapons and attacked the male victim. After the attack, the suspect left the area off the scene and boarded the public road.”
Police said investigators gathered evidence, obtained images of the suspect, and ultimately identified him. Michael. Michael was arrested three days later at his East Side home in Tucson.
In a statement obtained by Fox News Digital, the Tucson Police Department said officers responded around 10am on April 5 to find “an unresponsive man with sharp trauma on the southeast corner of East Broadway Boulevard and South Sixth Avenue.”
“Bytesmen tried to provide assistance to the victims, and officers took over their efforts to save lives until the Tucson Fire Department arrived. TFD took the victim to Banner University Medical Center with a life-threatening injury.
Detectives from the Robbery and Assault Division later responded to the scene and “we learned that the male suspect had approached the victim and his wife at the bus stop,” police said. “The suspect began a conflict with the couple, during which he produced sharp weapons and attacked the male victim. After the attack, the suspect left the scene, boarded a public tram and left the area.”
Police said investigators gathered evidence, obtained images of the suspect, and ultimately identified him. Michael. Michael was arrested three days later at his East Side home in Tucson.
