Caitlyn Marie Kaufman, a 26-year-old Nashville nurse who graduated from Butler High School, was fatally shot in December 2020 on her way to work at a Nashville hospital. A trial date of Jan. 23 is set for the two men facing first-degree murder charges in her death. Submitted Photo

The trial for two men facing first-degree murder charges in the December 2020 Tennessee highway shooting death of Chicora native Caitlyn Kaufman is set to begin Jan. 23.

The jury trial for defendants James Cowan, 29, and Devaunte Hill, 23, both of Tennessee, is scheduled in Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County Court before Judge Angelita Blackshear Dalton.

A grand jury indicted Cowan and Hill in May last year. Both remain in prison. Cowan is being represented by attorney Ron Munkeboe, and Hill’s attorney is Jason Chaffin.

The indictment shows the grand jury found the two men “unlawfully, intentionally and with premeditation” shot and killed Kaufman.

Kaufman, a 26-year-old nurse who graduated from Butler High School in 2012, was shot and killed around 6:30 p.m. Dec. 3, 2020, while she traveled to St. Thomas West Hospital, where she worked in the intensive care unit.

In a hearing in January, a witness and investigators said Kaufman may have cut off the defendants' car in traffic as they traveled along Interstate 440 in Nashville.

Investigators said her car was struck by at least six bullets and her rear driver's side window was shot out.

A medical examiner in Nashville said she was struck by a bullet in the shoulder, and she likely died just minutes after being shot.

According to investigators, a police officer found Kaufman's Mazda SUV along the guardrail three hours after the shooting and discovered her body in the driver's seat.

Cowan was arrested Jan. 12, 2021, in the Antioch neighborhood 12 miles southeast of Nashville, authorities said, where they discovered a “substantial” number of Xanax pills and fentanyl as well as $2,100 in cash and at least one handgun.

Cowan, who is identified in the indictment as also going by the pseudonym “James Edward Lillard,” was previously convicted of aggravated robbery in 2011, and could face additional jail time if convicted because of a probation violation.

Hill was arrested Dec. 11, 2020, and initially implicated himself in Kaufman's murder, according to authorities, but has since maintained his innocence.

After graduating from high school, Kaufman continued her education at Clarion University, graduating in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in athletic training. In 2018, she received a nursing degree from Butler County Community College. She was active on the Clarion University dive team for four years. She worked at St. Thomas West Hospital for two years.