Six Murdered in Tennessee and Alabama

[sara1981]

Six Murdered in Tennessee and Alabama
Six Murdered in Tennessee and Alabama - CBS News

Five people were found slain in two homes in southern Tennessee Saturday, some of whom were related, and a sixth person at a Huntsville, Ala., business, said authorities who have a suspect in custody.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Kristin Helm said in an e-mail that 30-year-old Jacob Shaffer, of Huntsville, was being questioned but no charges have been filed. She said he was sitting on the front porch of one of the homes in Lincoln County when deputies arrived and that he was being held by local authorities.

Lincoln County Sheriff Murray Blackwelder said at a news conference that his department is investigating three crime scenes, though he did not elaborate. He did not release the victims' names and would not confirm the causes of death. He also did not release a motive in what he called "horrendous" killings and "one of the worst crimes Lincoln County has seen."

Helm said some of the Tennessee victims were related and that the killings happened Friday night or early Saturday.

Authorities did not release ages, but Karon Weatherman, who lives about a half-mile away, said she saw children as young as 4 and 5 running back and forth between the homes that are across the road from each other in the rural area near Fayetteville.

Huntsville Police Sgt. Mickey Allen, who works for the city's major crimes unit, told TV station WAFF that based on the suspect's information, police found a body at Hall Cultured Marble Granite late Saturday morning.

One of the Tennessee homes was once a skating rink that was converted into a duplex, said Weatherman. She did not know the family but said they moved in about a year ago in the area made up of mostly rental houses.

"I wouldn't expect nothing like this to happen," she said.

Fayetteville is a town of 7,000 people about 90 miles south of Nashville near the Tennessee-Alabama border. Huntsville is the largest city in northern Alabama with more than 170,000 people and is about 30 miles south of Fayetteville.

 

[sara1981]

updates:

Man in custody in six slayings in Tennessee, Alabama
Man in custody in six slayings in Tennessee, Alabama - CNN.com

"A gruesome scene" is how one investigator described the aftermath of five killings in Tennessee. A sixth body was found in Alabama.

Kristin Helm of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation told CNN on Saturday that authorities have Jacob Shafer in custody in connection with the deaths. She added that authorities are not looking for additional suspects.

Huntsville, Alabama, Police Sgt. Mickey Allen said Tennessee authorities told him a man confessed to a slaying in Huntsville, Alabama, and to five other killings in Fayetteville, Tennessee. Allen didn't identify the man.

Shafer has been questioned by the TBI and is expected to face murder charges, Helm said.

Sheriff Murray Blackwelder, who held an afternoon news conference, called the slayings "one of the worst crimes Lincoln County has ever seen." He didn't describe how the Lincoln County,

Dr. Bruce Levy, medical examiner for Tennessee, was working to identify the bodies found in that state, Helm said.

Fayetteville police responded to a call to South Lincoln Road about 10 a.m. (11 a.m. ET), Blackwelder said. Police found three crime scenes and five bodies on that street, he said.

The five victims, some of whom were related, were found in two homes, Helm said. Investigators think the killings occurred either Friday night or early Saturday, she said.

The sixth body was found at a business in Huntsville, Sheriff Allen said. He said he is unsure of the connection between the crime scenes in Tennessee and Alabama. Huntsville is about 30 miles from Fayetteville.

"We have no clue yet as to what unfolded there and how it relates to here," Allen said.

 

[sara1981]

updates:

Police: 6 slain in Tenn., Ala.; suspect in custody
Police: 6 slain in Tenn., Ala.; suspect in custody - Yahoo! News

FAYETTEVILLE, Tenn. – Six slayings in two communities about 30 miles apart in Tennessee and Alabama are linked, and a suspect who was sitting on the front porch of a home where some the bodies were found was being questioned, authorities said Saturday.

Five people, including members of the same family, were found dead in two rural homes near Fayetteville in southern Tennessee Saturday, and a sixth body was discovered at a Huntsville, Ala., business, authorities said

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Kristin Helm said in an e-mail that a suspect, 30-year-old Jacob Shaffer, of Huntsville, was in custody in Lincoln County, but no charges had been filed. She said deputies found him on the porch of one of the Fayetteville homes.

Lincoln County Sheriff Murray Blackwelder said at a news conference that his department is investigating three crime scenes, though he did not elaborate. He did not release the victims' names and would not confirm the causes of death. He also did not release a motive in what he called "horrendous" killings and "one of the worst crimes Lincoln County has seen."

Helm said some of the Tennessee victims were related and were killed Friday night or early Saturday. Huntsville police Sgt. Mickey Allen, who works for the city's major crimes unit, told TV station WAFF that based on the suspect's information, police found a body at Hall Cultured Marble Granite late Saturday morning. Authorities have not said how the slayings in the two communities are linked.

Authorities did not release the victims' ages. But Karon Weatherman, who lives about a half-mile away from the Tennessee homes, said she saw children as young as 4 and 5 running back and forth between the houses across the road from each other.

One of the Tennessee homes was once a skating rink that was converted into a duplex, said Weatherman. She did not know the family but said they moved in earlier this year.

"I wouldn't expect nothing like this to happen," she said.

All phone numbers listed in Huntsville under Jacob Shaffer's name had been disconnected.

Fayetteville is a town of 7,000 people about 90 miles south of Nashville near the Tennessee-Alabama border. Huntsville, about 30 miles south, is the largest city in northern Alabama with more than 170,000 people.

 

[sara1981]

update:

Tennessee police: Suspect's wife, her relatives among 6 slain
Tennessee police: Suspect's wife, her relatives among 6 slain - CNN.com

The wife of a man suspected of killing five people in Tennessee and one in Alabama was among the victims found in southern Tennessee, along with her son, father and brother, police said Sunday.

Jacob Shaffer, 30, of Fayetteville, Tennessee, was arrested Saturday after three people were found dead at a home in Fayetteville, 90 miles south of Nashville, Tennessee. Two other people were found at another home on the same street.

The three found in one home were Shaffer's wife, Traci Shaffer, 38; her son Devin Brooks, 16; and the youth's friend and neighbor, 16-year-old Robert Berber, according to a statement Sunday from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

The two people found at the other home were Traci Shaffer's father, Billy Hall, 57, and her brother Chris Hall, 34, authorities said.

Autopsies were being conducted Sunday on the five, and causes of death would be released by medical examiners, the bureau said.

A sixth person was found dead at a business about 30 miles away in Huntsville, Alabama, the Tennessee authorities said. The person's name was not released Sunday.

Jacob Shaffer was in one of the Fayetteville homes when Lincoln County sheriff's deputies arrived Saturday, authorities said. Police believe the deaths happened either Friday night or Saturday, according to Kristin Helm of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Officials said they believe the deaths were related to a domestic dispute.

It was unclear when or how the Huntsville victim died. "We have no clue yet as to what unfolded there and how it relates to here," Huntsville Police Sgt. Mickey Allen said Saturday.

Without naming Shaffer, Allen said Tennessee authorities told him a man confessed to a slaying in Huntsville and to five other killings in Fayetteville.

Shaffer faces five counts of criminal homicide in the Tennessee deaths, the TBI statement said. He was in the Lincoln County Jail without bond Sunday.