A McCreary County man is behind bars after he shot his girlfriend's mother, police said.

Wednesday evening around 7:21 p.m., Kentucky State Police responded to a call of a shooting. It happened at a home on Old State Garage Road in the Stearns community.

Troopers arrived and found Larissa Cox, 48, dead from an apparent gunshot wound.

Investigators determined Cox was killed by her daughter's boyfriend, Preston T. Clark, 20, during a fight.

Clark was arrested at the scene and charged with murder. He was taken to the Leslie County Detention Center.

Friends describe Cox as a light to everyone who knew her. She was a former Miss McCreary Fest and worked as a nurse.

"Larissa, if you knew her, you loved her," said Mary Singleton, a friend of Cox's. "Because she was fun-loving. She loved to have a good time. Talk. She never met a stranger."

Cox traveled frequently and was known for helping people.

"She traveled the country, really, she had been to Hawaii, Minnesota. She had recently come home. We were happy to have her home. And then this horrible news," said Shane Gilreath, another of Cox's friends. "I was shocked, shocked by the news in general, just shocked that it happened at all."

Friends said Clark and his girlfriend had just celebrated the arrival of a baby - Cox's grandchild that she adored, along with all of her family.

"I think family was everything to her. When she was traveling with her job, that was something she often said. She missed home, she missed her family. That was the hardest part of it, being away from them," Gilreath said.

Cox's body is scheduled for an autopsy on Friday. The investigation is ongoing.

Clark said he did not want to talk to us from jail. He is due in court on July 3rd.