A joint investigation by special agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Etowah Police Department and the 10th District Attorney General’s Office has resulted in the arrest of an Etowah teen, who has been charged with the murder of a female teenager that occurred last year.
On July 1, 2017, TBI agents assisted investigators with the Etowah Police Department in a missing person investigation, to determine the circumstances involved in the disappearance of Kelsey Burnette, 18.
On July 4, 2017, at the request of 10th District Attorney General Stephen Crump, TBI agents joined the Etowah Police Department in opening a death investigation, after a citizen discovered the body of a white female, later identified as that of Kelsey Burnette, off the side of a roadway on Charles Street in Etowah. Through the course of the investigation, agents developed information identifying the individual responsible for the death of Kelsey Burnette.
On June 21, the subject of the investigation, who was a juvenile at the time of the offense and is not being identified at the time, surrendered to law enforcement officials and was charged with one count of felony murder and one count of aggravated rape. He was booked into the McMinn County Jail, where he is being held on an open court bond.