Tragedy In Tullahoma: The Case Of Megan Sharpton

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so tullahoma tennessee just over an hour south of nashville the residents of tula home would describe it as quaint and quiet most people know each other and the community is fairly close in 2012 it was home to 24 year old erica megan sharpton erica went by megan and she was part of a big family who had moved around a bit before settling in tullahoma she was a hard worker very goal-oriented and her best friend said she was really funny outgoing and always pushed herself in every way megan was just two months away from graduating and had a promising career in the nursing field ahead of her she was always busy but thrived in that environment enjoying her part-time jobs waiting tables at a local steakhouse as well as another at a nursing home she was living with her partner of three years chris and everyone said she had everything going for her in so many ways on july 1st megan had made plans to go to her mother's house to see her sister who was visiting from out of town but soon after making dinner plans megan called her mother kelly and explained that a last-minute job interview had come up and she would have to reschedule was excited and said she would even be getting an upfront payment straight away if she was lucky enough to get the job a hard-working person always looking to progress her family were just as excited they wished her luck and agreed to catch up with her later but hours would pass and neither her family friends or her partner chris had heard anything about the interview megan was completely silent and wasn't answering her phone before long it was past midnight and into the next day and people were starting to worry whether the interview had gone well or not they were hoping for her to tell them something [Music] july 2nd 2012 1 20 am it had been a very hot and dry day and in the early morning hours a couple of teenagers driving down awalt road happened upon a fire in amidst the trees it was a very secluded and unfrequented area the nearest building was a church about half a mile away and the nearest home was way across the bridge this wasn't a road you would have any reason to stop on it was more just a place to pass through the teens called emergency services thinking of forest fire had broken out and they were worried it would spread authorities got there not long after and quickly started combating the fire which had spread quite a distance perhaps it was a campfire that had been left unattended or a discarded cigarette the first responders thought but they didn't have to get very close to realise it was far from that the fire had been set to try and burn a body the body of megan sharpton there was no car nearby and no one else was around megan had no id no keys no purse and no phone on her or anywhere near her she was naked from the waist down and the location and position of the fire confirmed that she was already dead before she was set on fire one of the officers commented on how severe the blunt force trauma to her head was as they could see how dented her skull was along with no identification there had been no people recently reported missing they could look towards for an answer but her distinctive t-shirt indicated she was a medical student and she had several tattoos so police were able to put somewhat of a description out word travelled fast and after seeing a facebook post about a girl with star tattoos being found kelly had called in megan had star tattoos on her ankle representing her siblings as well as one on her neck and from these alone kelly knew straight away it was her daughter it was brutal shocking and the community was left incredibly frightened as a result workers couldn't believe the news waitress erica sharpton or megan as they called her was murdered we were all just shocked because she never seemed like she was in any kind of trouble friends say sharpton was a busy 24 year old who was balancing this job with nursing school and another job at a nursing home to try and get out of the restaurant business and get into a better career field where she can accelerate the young lady's body was over here sheriff tim fuller says deputies discovered sharpton's body in this grass on fire early monday morning after putting out the flames they discovered evidence of trauma to her head it appears to us that she may have very well been murdered at another location and was literally dumped here to dispose of the body had she been killed on the way home from the interview had she even made it to the interview in the first place was the interviewer her killer or was it a totally unrelated attack joining us now is kelly sharpton i'm sure this has just been so difficult for you and your family our prayers go out to you how did you find out what happened to your beautiful daughter i actually read a post on facebook where they had described a girl with a star tattoo on the back of her neck and one on her foot and i knew that it was her when was the last time you talked to your daughter and what kind of mood was she and i understand she was saying that she was going to go over and visit a family correct right my other daughter was here from out of town and she had just woken up at 3 45 that afternoon she'd worked the late shift at a restaurant where she left him was planning to come over after that she said after she got her shower she would come on and she didn't come but we were under the understanding she had an interview with somebody to start sitting with an elderly lady and so we just figured she had gone on and gone through that interview but we lost track of her after that if somebody is out there listening tonight and they saw something what would you like to say to them as you are desperately searching for clues for your daughter just please if you saw anything even the smallest detail please call the police call tbi or franklin county sheriff's department they've been wonderful they've kept us up to date they've left no stone unturned it's just been great and please call she was our daughter our sister we just miss her police started with the people closest to her one of which was her partner chris and her family admitted they did briefly question him too the couple had been on and off for a while and her sister had said her first thoughts was that he had been involved describing the couple as oil and water and most definitely having their ups and downs chris told investigators the last time he had tried to call her she didn't answer when she didn't come back to the apartment that night he just assumed she had slept at her mother's a search of the apartment found blood in the bathroom along with some needles and this was enough to pull both chris and his roommate robbie in for more questions as they were interviewing the pair megan's 1995 red ford mustang was located investigators found sharpton's 95 red ford mustang 15 miles away on three forks ridge road in bedford county they're now asking the public for any information how it got there and whether anyone has seen the woman's peak purse those two pieces of information will be very very valuable to us inside her car was a handwritten note with an address and some directions on it 850 shelfer road there was no blood found inside her car and apart from the notes there was nothing of evidentiary value in there but the address did not exist and police determined it was likely used to lure megan away back at the station robbie admitted that the drug paraphernalia was his but said it was something he was battling alone and neither chris nor megan knew he used robbie did admit to investigators that he and megan had been having a secret relationship this made police wonder had chris found out and killed her in a fit of rage but chris didn't know anything about the pair and was visibly shocked to hear about it he acknowledged the issues within the couple's relationship but officers recalled he was incredibly upset visibly shaking and devastated to hear about her passing this along with a solid alibi from his workplace ruled him out although robbie couldn't provide an alibi his phone activity showed he was texting megan all night and into the early hours worrying about where she was officers were also satisfied that he had played no part in her murder chris did give police something to work on though a random man had called one of megan's phones on the day she was last seen he was looking for someone to be a carer for his grandmother and that naomi had recommended her megan was keen to get more hands-on experience in the field she was looking to go into and this was the perfect opportunity this was the mystery job she had been so excited to tell people about but this was the first time they had heard a name linked to it the only naomi chris knew of was someone who had studied with megan in the previous year police set about following up on this lead but while they were doing this something else was brought to their attention as well as the name naomi the high-profile disappearance of 20 year old holly bobo just six months prior gave detectives more to consider holly bobo had also been studying nursing and had gone missing in the county of decatur around 130 miles away from tullahoma authorities couldn't help but wonder if there was a link between her and megan and the community noticed similarities between the pair as well the media started running with the idea that this could be the work of a serial killer further fuelling the fear amongst everyone by process of elimination they managed to get an address for the only naomi they thought it could have been and headed over to her house she wasn't home so officers got hold of her phone number from a neighbor they were surprised to hear that naomi didn't recommend her for the job she didn't even like megan she said she barely knew her and the extent of their relationship was that they had carpooled to their classes together a couple of times when asked why her name would have been mentioned she said she had no idea as she wouldn't have recommended her for anything naomi told police she couldn't help any further and the officers left confused and frustrated as this was the lead they were counting on a short while later megan's autopsy results came back the report revealed that she had been raped before being beaten and shot through her cheek although the blunt force trauma was so severe her skull was almost shattered it was the bullets that had killed her and authorities felt strongly that she was likely beaten with the gun a mother pleads with law enforcement to catch her daughter's killer before she says someone else gets hurt good evening i'm kim chapman and i'm calvin sneed the murder of meghan sharpton happened in franklin county back in july the murder left her family devastated and on edge knowing her killer is still out there somewhere i wake up in the morning with the horrible realization that my daughter is dead she's never coming back megan sharpton was brutally murdered on july 2nd after she was lured to a home she was raped several times and beaten her body was found burning on the side of the road in franklin county district attorney michael taylor is overseeing the case the investigation is continuing and hopefully we will have a successful outcome in the near future while a murderer walks free her family is left with a gaping hole kelly talks about her son's connection with megan really valued her and went to her for most of his advice and needs and he's been devastated sadness and grief have overcome the mother of four who promised to support her children through college megan would be graduating from nursing school on october 26th i have to accept her diploma for her and that will be joyous it will break my heart because it should be her the sharptons are pleading for district attorney taylor to speed up the process and make an arrest in the case so no other woman get hurt if you have any information on this case call the franklin county sheriff's department although the phone megan took with her that night was never located chris was able to find the phone that had received the call about the job finally they had access to the mysterious number the call had come from an unregistered pre-paid phone twelve weeks after megan had been found investigators had something concrete the number linked with the prepaid phone sent them to a store in tullahoma where the phone was purchased the cameras inside the store gave them a description of the man buying the phone at one point he put his own phone on the counter indicating he was clearly buying another phone that would be harder to trace for a specific reason the cameras follow the man outside and he gets into a red pickup truck the man would soon be identified as timothy gifford known as timmy a small-time drug dealer and police were surprised that his name could be linked to something this big when they tracked down the truck his brother paul was driving it paul said all he knew was that timmy had bought it off a friend and given it to him timmy was tracked down he was forthcoming and told police he had purchased the phone for a friend coincidentally the same friend that had sold him the red truck his friend's name was donnie frank jones jr a name that was actually known to police donnie had a criminal record and would often act as a police informant but the connection between donny and megan was still unknown timmy said that donny had recently gone in for surgery and asked him to buy the phone for him as he couldn't donny gave some of his painkillers to timmy as payment after this donny texts timmy telling him he wanted to trade in his truck for a mustang and asked if he could help timmy said he didn't understand why donnie had several young children and his truck was far more practical nonetheless timmy agreed to help with the truck and passed it on to his brother timmy said the carpet as well as other bits of the interior had been very recently replaced donnie said his wife had told him it would probably sell quicker if the inside was newer only then did police finally work out the connection donnie jones was the husband of naomi jones the woman whose name had been used in the phone call to megan and the woman they had already spoken to weeks before police now had the link they needed and went back to the couple's home this time with the hopes of searching it donny denied knowing megan but suddenly changed his story and said he did remember giving her and his wife a lift to classes once or twice donny said he was at home with his children on the night in question he denied timmy's claim about the phone and told detectives they could search his house and take a dna swab he said he had nothing to hide they looked around the home for a while but found nothing of any interest and left with just the dna sample while the results were pending the nursing graduation ceremony megan should have been a part of took place her 18 fellow students celebrated her life and paid tribute was supposed to accept her degree in practical nursing from the tennessee technology center megan worked hard for this she wanted this she wanted to be a nurse and she was on her way before her life was stolen kelly accepted megan's diploma on her behalf i'm not the only one that should be sad every patient that she would have had every person that she would have touched should also be so lost like i am the seats was made up where she would have been sat bittersweet so proud of her for her work heartbroken that some evil person would take her from this world the combined dna index system more commonly referred to as codis is the central location for law enforcement to compare the dna profiles of individuals who have been convicted of a certain class of crime codis software enables states local and national law enforcement to compare dna profiles electronically thereby linking crimes to each other and identifying suspects by matching dna profiles together through this and the dna sample they confirmed a match to the rape test kit performed on megan the dna came back to donny he was pulled in for questioning but was still adamant they had the wrong person he said they never dated and never had a sexual relationship he was then confronted with the dna evidence he quickly changed his story he said that he and megan had had a consensual sexual affair but for obvious reasons but keeping it quiet although police knew he was lying they were unable to disprove this and had no choice but to let donny go home donny had been accused of rape in the past and he also had prior felony convictions for aggravated burglary aggravated assault and forgery and was thus prohibited from possessing a firearm when police caught wind that he owned guns this allowed them to obtain a search warrant and place him under arrest they hoped this would give them more time to look into his potential involvement in megan's murder four months after megan was found the last pieces of evidence were in that would help police tie donny to the crime the coroner had already confirmed the type of bullet that had gone through megan's cheek it was a match for the rifle that belonged to donny the gps evidence also placed donny at the crime scenes the burner phone that was used to contact megan was moving alongside donny's phone at the time definitively putting the two phones together in donny's car it had pinged off of several locations the first being where they suspected megan had been abducted and attacked the second where they believed she had been murdered and the third where her body was found [Music] the location she was believed to have been killed in was a farm owned by his family it was here that they found a partially burned scarf that belonged to megan [Music] monday november 5th at approximately 6 30 pm a franklin county grand jury returning indictment against a telehome man for the murder of megan sharpton he has been charged with first degree murder of megan and will face justice in our court system this is rural middle tennessee we don't we don't see things like that here we don't we don't experience that level of brutality or violence or just coldness donnie frank jones jr was indicted with two counts of aggravated kidnapping two counts of aggravated rape and first degree murder announced tuesday that 37 year old donny jones was charged with killing megan sharpton on tuesday the franklin county sheriff's office charged 37-year-old donny jones with megan's rape and murder a lot of the things that they had shared with me make me know that this is the right person then when i started hearing how it all fell together i had no doubt hearing the charges against jones and seeing him locked behind bars gives sharpton a sense of satisfaction for her daughter and the community she's filled my life with so much joy for 24 years so i'll just take that with me and try to learn from this experience donnie jones has 21 previous felony convictions ranging from forgery to aggravated assault he had been in jail on an unrelated charge and he now faces two counts each of kidnapping rape and murder he's due back in court on november the 16th his bail was set at half a million dollars and prosecutors began to prepare for a trial the bernaphone showed that several people had actually been called by donny and they were all people that either cared for the elderly or worked in nursing in some respect he had been phoning random people essentially hunting for a victim donnie then remembered megan from giving her a lift a year prior he used his wife's phone to get her number and used naomi's name to lure her into a false sense of security he gave her the fake address and directions that led to a desolate area where he was waiting phone records confirmed that his wife naomi was at work on the night of the crime and police said she had nothing to do with megan's murder they also found no connection between donny and holly bobo with separate arrests being made in her case later down the line although the charges against donnie were eligible for the death penalty prosecutors never publicly stated whether or not they plan to seek it donny jones jr entered a plea of not guilty he walked into a manchester courtroom with shackles on his hands and feet coming face to face with megan sharpton's mother kelly who was clutching a picture of her daughter well our theory was that the purpose of the fire was to destroy the semen present in her body district attorney mike taylor says the fire actually ended up preserving the evidence that became key after investigators linked jones to the crime through cell phone records and sharpton's clothing found on his family's property i know that he had a 98 escape where he where he actually tried to kidnap two young ladies in the car and make them take him to the interstate in court jones asked the judge for a speedy trial and he mouthed to relatives what appeared to be i didn't do it he knows in his heart the universe knows who's guilty i don't have to argue with him the police have done their work but as the death penalty was potentially on the table it was later said he was keen to cut a deal with the authorities instead the exchange would be a confession for the removal of the death penalty as the man who killed her agreed to a plea deal that will keep him in prison for the rest of his life in february 2013 37 year old donny jones jr pleaded guilty to the first degree murder of megan sharpton he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole however he soon asked to withdraw this stating that his attorney had convinced him to say it and his wife had been threatened circuit court judge curtis smith heard and granted a new motion but the original judgment soon went back into effect and he is still serving life without parole megan's sister carrie said if megan hadn't lost her life i feel very confident that donny jones would still be out trying to trick young women megan put him behind bars for life she sacrificed her life to keep everybody else in our community safe kelly sharpton who had gone through such trauma losing her daughter in an unbearable way often spoke of how the pain was all-consuming and relentless tragically in november 2013 kelly would take her own life officers working the case expressed the sadness they felt for megan stating her last few minutes of life was pure hell and panic and fear a young woman with so much promise and so many plans her life so cruelly snatched away this along with the devastating death of her mother kelly deeply affected many people a seven foot tall memorial was created to honor megan and can be located where she was found that early morning it is made up of 24 stars one for each year of her life and a nod to the tattoos that meant so much to her her sister said their family will be forever grateful to the community for their support and their dedication to helping them through it all [Music] you
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Channel: Truly Criminal
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Length: 26min 32sec (1592 seconds)
Published: Sat Apr 16 2022
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