The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has arrested three people accused of a burglary and homicide in Athens on the fourth of July.
At the request of District Attorney General Steve Crump, TBI special agents began investigating the death of Michael W.T. Womack on Tuesday. On July 4, McMinn County deputies found the body of the 20-year-old at the Athens home of Mr. Womack’s acquaintance, which had also been burglarized.
During the course of the investigation, agents and sheriff’s department detectives developed information which implicated Thomas P. Odum, 48, Martha A. Thompson, 42, and Amanda L. Britnell, 34. All three subsequently admitted to their participation in the crime. At this time, the circumstances of the crime and its motivation remain under investigation.
On Thursday morning, TBI agents, along with McMinn County deputies, arrested all three people without incident at the home shared by Ms. Thompson and Ms. Britnell.
All three were being held at the McMinn County Jail. Bond amounts were not immediately available.