MILLINGTON, Tenn. (AP) - Millington police say they don’t know whether a dead baby found in a ditch on Sunday is the missing 7-week-old Aniston Walker, but they have called in Memphis police just in case.
Millington Police Chief Rita Stanback told WMC-TV (https://bit.ly/1dXXUErhttps://bit.ly/1dXXUEr ), “I would say that it seems like the body has been there for some time. It’s less than a year old, wearing a onesie.”
Stanback said a motorcyclist who pulled over to the side of the road saw the body in a ditch on Singleton Parkway in Millington around noon and called police.
“Memphis police are on the scene, just in case this is the baby that is missing,” Stanback said.
Stanback declined to identify the baby’s sex or race.
Andrea Walker told police Aniston disappeared on Jan. 9 after Walker left the infant at home with a 3-year-old as she dropped her 5-year-old son off at school. Police did not find the baby girl during a search that lasted for three days.
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MIDDLESBORO, Ky. (AP) - Jamie Coots, a snake-handling Kentucky pastor who appeared on the National Geographic television reality show “Snake Salvation,” died Saturday after being bitten by a snake.
Coots was handling a rattlesnake during a Saturday night service at his Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name Church in Middlesboro when he was bitten, another preacher, Cody Winn, told WBIR-TV (https://on.wbir.com/1cLrs8A).
“Jamie went across the floor. He had one of the rattlers in his hand, he came over and he was standing beside me. It was plain view, it just turned its head and bit him in the back of the hand … within a second,” Winn said.
When an ambulance arrived at the church at 8:30 p.m., they were told Coots had gone home, the Middlesboro Police Department said in a news release. Contacted at his house, Coots refused medical treatment.
Emergency workers left about 9:10 p.m. When they returned about an hour later, Coots was dead from a venomous snake bite, police said.
In January 2013, Coots was caught transporting three rattlesnakes and two copperheads through Knoxville, Tenn. Wildlife officials confiscated the snakes, and Coots pleaded guilty to illegally wildlife possession. He was given one year of unsupervised probation.
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JACKSON, Tenn. (AP) - Jackson Police believe a Union University student killed his fiancee and then tried to make her death look like a suicide.
WNWS-FM reports (https://bit.ly/1lXcL8C) Charles Pittman, a 21-year-old senior majoring in Christian ministries, is charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence.
Pittman’s fiancee is Olivia Greenlee, a 21-year-old senior majoring in music education. She was found dead of a gunshot wound in her car on campus early Wednesday morning.
Police believe that Pittman shot Greenlee on Tuesday night and then staged the scene to look like a suicide.
Pittman’s arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday in Jackson City Court.
The Associated Press was unable to determine whether Pittman had obtained an attorney. Calls to the Jackson City Court went unanswered on Sunday, a message for Jackson Police was not retuned and jail officials refused to release any information on Pittman.
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MIDDLESBORO, Ky. (AP) - A snake-handling Kentucky pastor who appeared on the National Geographic television reality show “Snake Salvation” has died after being bitten by a snake.
According to a news release from the Middlesboro Police Department, someone called first responders at about 8:30 p.m. on Saturday regarding a snake-bite victim at a church.
When the ambulance arrived, they were told that Jamie Coots had gone home. Contacted at his house, Coots refused medical treatment. Emergency workers left at a little after 9:00 p.m. When they returned about an hour later, Coots was dead.
Coots was caught in January 2013 transporting three rattlesnakes and two copperheads through Knoxville, Tenn., for his church. Tennessee wildlife officials confiscated the snakes, and Coots pleaded guilty to illegally wildlife possession. He was given one year of unsupervised probation.
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