FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE…
Monday, May 20, 2013
Tennessee Murder Suspect Commits Suicide After Being Cornered in Local Motel
Sheriff Mitch Ralston Reports:
On Monday morning (May 20), a suspect in a Sunday (May 19) murder in Hamilton County, Tennessee was located at a local motel on US Highway 41 North near near Interstate 75 in Calhoun. Gordon County deputy sheriffs assisted personnel from the United States Marshal’s Service (USMS) and the Hamilton County, Tennessee Sheriff’s Office in surrounding the motel and cornering the suspect. Peace officers established communications with the man, but when officers entered the room, they found him dead from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. Gordon County authorities understood that in addition to being wanted in connection to the homicide, warrants had been issued charging him with aggravated rape in Tennessee. He was considered ‘armed and dangerous’ by authorities. The man was subsequently identified as one Terry Lee Releford, age 34, of Soddy Daisy, Tennessee. Tennessee authorities advised that Releford was a registered violent sex offender. The death is being investigated by the Gordon County Sheriff’s Office and the Gordon County Coroner’s Office.