Donnie Jones Jr, 37, who is charged with killing 24-year-old nursing student Megan Sharpton of Tullahoma, pleaded ‘not guilty’ to first-degree murder charges in a Franklin County courtroom Friday morning.
Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Buddy Perry appointed Winchester lawyer Joe Ford to act as Jones’ attorney.
A court date was set for mid-January to begin a trial.
Jones was arrested Nov. 7 and charged with first-degree murder, two counts of rape and two counts of aggravated kidnapping in Sharpton’s death.
A passing motorist discovered the partially burned body of Sharpton in a rural area of Franklin County in the early morning hours of July 2. Her car was found later that day in Bedford County, while her purse was discovered two days later in a creek in Estill Springs.

Coffee County Sheriff investigators are continuing their investigation into the murder of Thomas Colucci whose body was found last week on Maple Springs Road with multiple gunshot wounds. His fiancé Connie King received injuries in the attack at the residence. The sheriff stated Sunday that investigators have been following up on leads in the case. Evidence that was collected at the couple’s residence has been sent to the TBI Crime Lab for analysis.

Just before 11:00pm Friday night an alarm was sent to all volunteer fire departments. A passerby reported a house on fire in the 12,000 block of Murfreesboro Hwy. Dispatch was told the home was fully engulfed and did not know if anyone was at home. When WMSR photographer Barry West arrived on the scene the very large house was indeed all in flames. The flames were shooting 100 feet in the air and the lit up the night sky. The orange glow could be seen for miles. The late night fire is being investigated.

William Julian Pillars, 42, of Sunshine Circle in Decherd was arrested recently on an indictment for the alleged rape of a child of less than 13 years of age.
In addition to the one charge of alleged rape of a minor under 13 years old, Pillars also faces a charge of sexual battery.
Pillars was booked into the Franklin County jail under a $100,000 bond.

Area citizens are invited to a holiday concert on Nov. 29 on the Motlow College Moore County campus, according to Motlow music students and their instructor, Dr. David Bethea. Music will begin at 7 p.m. in Eoff Hall’s Powers Auditorium and will feature the Motlow vocal ensemble and jazz band.
The vocal portion of the concert will include a wide range of music, from American Patriotic pieces to holiday favorites, according to Bethea, who said the audience will be invited to sing along to some numbers. Students in the vocal ensemble are Vaun Justin Lee Baltimore of Unionville; David Gillies of Lynchburg; Rebecca Whitman of Shelbyville; and D’Angelo Brown, Elizabeth Leilani Daniels and Jacoby London, all of Tullahoma.
The jazz band, which includes local professional musicians, also will play a variety of musical numbers.
Reservations are not required, and there is no admission charge.

A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais said Friday that the physician-turned-politician has no plans to step down despite new revelations that could jeopardize his medical license.
“No, he does not,” spokesman Robert Jameson told The Hill, a Washington, D.C., newspaper, when asked if DesJarlais planned to resign his 4th District seat.
On Thursday, the Chattanooga Times Free Press published a story confirming that the recently re-elected, anti-abortion Republican supported his ex-wife’s two abortions in the 1990s before they were married. The information came from the congressman’s own sworn testimony in his 2001 divorce trial.
While that led Democrats to call him a political hypocrite, the bigger issue for state regulators could be the other bombshell from the divorce. DesJarlais testified that he had sexual relationships with two patients, three co-workers and a drug representative while chief of staff at Grandview Medical Center in Jasper, Tenn.