Category: News

Special Agents from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation have arrested and charged a Murfreesboro man in connection to the murder of his neighbor.
TBI Special Agents began investigating the death of Lois Jean Espy on Monday, February 23rd, the same date deputies from the Bedford County Sheriff’s Department found the body of the 86-year-old woman on Mullins Mill Road. During the course of the investigation, Agents developed information which led to her neighbor, William Russell Brace, as the individual responsible for Espy’s death in her Murfreesboro apartment on or around February 22nd, as well as the placement of her body in Bedford County.
On Sunday TBI agents arrested and charged Brace with one count of First Degree Murder. The 60-year-old Murfreesboro man was being held in the Rutherford County Jail without bond. The investigation into the circumstances surrounding Espy’s death continues, with the cooperation of the Bedford County Sheriff’s Department and the Murfreesboro Police Department.

Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) employees can reduce their footprint on the environment through the Compost at AEDC program made possible through an Air Force Innovation Grant. Compost is organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer and soil amendment. This personal, passive (natural decomposition) compost program will help reduce the amount of compostable items delivered to the landfill from AEDC, as well as tipping fee costs. The idea was proposed by Annie Clements, a systems analyst and developer with the ATA Information Technology and Systems Department.
Clements recalled how she acquired her Tullahoma home-compost bin through the City of Tullahoma almost 20 years ago which was offered free to residents to divert compostable waste away from residential trash. She thought AEDC could benefit from a similar program because of the employee recycling efforts already in place.
Seventy-five Earth Machine compost bins were attained through the Innovation Grant program and they will be placed at up to 47 buildings at the Complex as more Green Team captains volunteer for the program.
According to Clements’ grant research, an employee generates a minimum of ¼ to ½ pounds of compostable waste each day at AEDC which computes to 156 tons of compost annually costing $7,300 in landfill tipping fees. In conjunction with cost savings in tipping fees, some other benefits projected in Clements’ research include diverting as much as 65 percent of compostable waste from the landfill. This diversion causes a reduction in landfill methane emissions by allowing aerobic decomposition. The resulting rich compost is available to employees participating in the program for gardening and landscaping.

Purebred dogs are the picture of perfection, and their popularity was highlighted at the recent Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. But an investigation by the Humane Society of the United States alleges that the American Kennel Club – a major player at dog shows – has opposed more than 150 different laws around the country that would help protect dogs in puppy mills. That includes the puppy mill regulation passed by Tennessee lawmakers in 2008 that was not renewed last year. Leighann Lassiter, the Tennessee state director of the Humane Society of the United States, says the AKC played a role in what transpired. “The Kennel Club actually fought against keeping that regulation in place for Tennessee,” Lassiter says. “In 2014 Tennessee became the first state in the nation to ever go backwards on puppy mill regulation.” Lassiter says in addition to lobbying efforts, two former AKC “Breeders of Merit” reportedly were found to be keeping dogs in poor conditions after recently passing their AKC inspections. A spokesperson for the American Kennel Club says the organization would “never support disreputable breeders,” and any violation of their policies is met with a quick response. Kathleen Summers, director of outreach with the Society’s Stop Puppy Mills campaign, says the AKC has an incentive to register more dogs. “There’s a profit motive involved,” says Summers. “The AKC does get income from litter registrations and the more puppies they can register, the larger their market share as a dog-registry organization.” Lassiter says the best thing consumers can do is investigate breeders before doing business with them, and adds if they decline your request to visit their facilities to pick up the pup, it could be an indication they don’t have the dogs’ best interest at heart. “They’ll tell you ‘I live too far into the country, you won’t be able to find my house, just let me just meet you in town in a parking lot,'” says Lassiter. “They come up with all kinds of excuses not to let you see their kennel and if someone won’t let you see their kennel don’t buy a puppy from them.” Lassiter also emphasizes many purebred dogs can be found at local animal shelters and asks consumers to report any suspicious breeding facilities they encounter to the local authorities.

Last week Coffee County Judge Vanessa Jackson lowered the 39 year old accused murder Connie Sanders King’s bond from $500,000 to $75,000. King is facing charges in the murder of Thomas Colucci on Nov. 13, 2012 at a residence on Pocahontas Road near Manchester that they shared.
At the time, King was seen running from the house with blood on her screaming hysterically. She claimed that someone broke into the house and assaulted her and killed Colucci. His body was found just inside the garage by authorities.
After the murder police later arrested her husband Troy King in California near San Diego. He was charged with murder. She was later arrested in Florida.
Connie King’s mother testified before Judge Jackson that if Connie King was granted bond that she would live in Grundy County with her. Her attorney, Chris Stanford, told the judge that his client would wear a GPS ankle bracelet for tracking purposes and that she would stay at her mother’s house. According to Assistant District Attorney Kristy West, the order does allow King to visit her attorney’s office while wearing the She has been held in the Franklin County Jail. Meanwhile, Troy King remains in the Coffee County Jail under a bond of $1 million.
The Colucci murder has drawn national attention as the CBS television show 48 hours has filed a request with the court to video the trial. The trial is set to get started on May 14 in the Coffee County Circuit Court with Judge Jackson presiding.

The body found alongside Mullins Mill Road in Shelbyville last Monday has been identified as a Murfreesboro woman.
Lois Jean Espy, 86, apparently lived alone, Bedford County Sheriff Austin Swing said Thursday, but has family in the Nashville area.
Her body was positively identified by the state medical examiner’s office, said Susan Niland, a spokesperson for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
A TBI forensics team is searching her residence for possible evidence, officials said. An online telephone directory indicates Espy, whose maiden name was Parker, lived on Battleground Drive in Murfreesboro.
Espy’s naked body was found a half-mile north of U.S. 41A South around sunrise Monday. Investigators are still not releasing further details such as suspects or the cause of death.
“It’s a death investigation at this time,” a Bedford County detective said Thursday when asked if investigators have a suspect. (Courtesy of Shelbyville Times-Gazette)

The Grundy County Sheriff’s Office says Autumn Spencer has been located and is safe.
The Sheriff’s office had been searching for a missing teenager. 16 year old Autumn Spencer was considered a possible runaway.
She was last seen on February 20th leaving a residence on Hardbarger Road in Monteagle, TN.
The Grundy County Sheriff’s announced they had located the teenager on Saturday.

DTC Communications would like to remind Middle Tennesseans that Sunday, March 1, 2015, marks the first day of the new 10-digit dialing requirements for making phone calls in the area. This process is being required by the Tennessee Regulatory Authority (TRA) in order to accommodate the newly established (629) area code that now joins the (615) area code.
This new “Overlay” option was implemented based on the results of a TRA survey conducted in 2013 in which consumers were asked how best to resolve the issue of limited phone number availability in the existing (615) area code. Starting tomorrow, all current (615) numbers will require 10-digit dialing (area code and seven-digit telephone number) for local calls within the (615) area as well as the new (629) area code. Phone calls that are currently treated as local calls will remain as local calls and calls that are treated as long distance calls will remain as long distance calls. In addition, when making long distance calls within any area code, you will still be required to dial a (1) before dialing the 10-digit number as usual.
“This new TRA requirement will take some time for everyone to get accustomed to,” says Craig Gates, Chief Executive Officer of DTC Communications. “But it’s truly a result of the positive growth that our area of the state is currently experiencing.”
DTC Communications is a member owned telephone cooperative established in 1951. The cooperative supplies communication, entertainment, and security products and services to residential and business customers primarily throughout Middle Tennessee.

A shooting occurred on Thursday afternoon in Coffee County at Henley and Son TV, 2202 Woodbury Hwy. According to Coffee County Sheriff Investigator Frank Watkins, James Henley, Sr allegedly shot his son James Henley, Jr after a domestic disagreement with a .380 caliber pistol.
Henley, Jr suffered a gunshot wound to his side and was airlifted to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville. Henley, Sr suffered an injury and was transported to Medical Center of Manchester for evaluation.
Watkins stated that the case will be presented to the Coffee County Grand Jury on Tuesday, March 3, 2015.
Manchester Police, Coffee County Sheriff department and Coffee County EMS responded to the scene.