Man pleads not guilty to slaying after counterculture event

ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. – A man has pleaded not guilty in Kentucky to killing a woman he met at the massive “Rainbow Family” counterculture gathering in a Georgia forest.

News outlets report 20-year-old Joseph Bryan Capstraw was arraigned Tuesday in Hardin Circuit Court.

Authorities in Kentucky have said Capstraw confessed to killing 18-year-old Amber Robinson, who was found dead on July 7. According to the arrest citation, Capstraw said he blacked out after arguing with her and woke up to find her badly beaten.

Both Robinson and Capstraw were from Florida, where Robinson was in the foster care system and Capstraw was homeless in Jacksonville Beach.

Elizabethtown police spokesman John Thomas says they met at the gathering and hitchhiked from the Chattahoochee National Forest. The driver let them stay at his home.

The Rainbow Family describes itself as a loose knit group of people without leadership or organization. They have held gatherings every year since 1972 at different National Forests across the country. It’s known as a temporary community that gathers with the aim of practicing peace, love and respect.