McKinley Lane Cody
A 19-year-old from Newport, Tn., has been charged in the murder and robbery of a 42-year-old Newport woman that happened in early January.
Special agents from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, working alongside investigators from the Cocke County Sheriff’s Department, have obtained indictments in the case.
On Jan. 9, at the request of 4th District Attorney General James Dunn, TBI special agents joined the investigation into the disappearance of Lora Costner, reported to local authorities two days earlier.
Authorities subsequently recovered the remains of Ms. Costner on March 10 and, after determining her death to be the result of a homicide, developed information which led to McKinley Lane Cody as the individual responsible for her death.
The Cocke County Grand Jury on Monday returned indictments charging Cody with one count of first-degree felony murder, one count of robbery, one count of second-degree murder, and one count of abuse of a corpse.
He remains in the custody of the Cocke County Jail on $1,000,000 bond.