Leatherman was among 19 people killed in Kentucky when the storm struck late Friday into early Saturday, as people in the path awoke to a terrifying scene. Most victims were from Laurel County in southeastern Kentucky, where Leatherman was a longtime member of a volunteer fire department.

Because of the dark, stormy conditions, Laurel County Fire Department officials are unsure if he knew who he was saving.

He spent his life protecting the community and in the end, he did the same thing,” Kentucky fire chief says about Major Roger Leslie Leatherman, who was found atop his wife during Friday’s tornado.

Barbourville Road was down to one lane in front of Slate Hill Baptist Church just outside of London, Ky. in Laurel County Sunday, May 18, 2025 as utility workers made repairs from down lines on the road. Two days earlier, thunderstorms and a deadly tornado ripped through the Southern Kentucky community destroying many homes.

One of the biggest concerns that we have is that you’re in this debris in high winds and it becomes a projectile, and it injures or kills somebody.”

LONDON, Ky. (AP) — Residents in Kentucky and Missouri sifted through damage in tornado-stricken neighborhoods and cleared debris Sunday after severe storms swept through parts of the Midwest and South and killed more than two dozen people.

Thousands of people from Texas to Kentucky cleaned up Monday from severe weather that killed more than two dozen people and destroyed thousands of homes and buildings in four days as forecasters warned that more tornadoes and storms were possible in the central U.