Autopsy determines man's death a homicide
By Tom Smith
Senior Staff Writer
Earnest
ROGERSVILLE -- Autopsy reports determined Thursday that a Rogersville man whose body was found inside his smoke-filled house Wednesday morning was killed by a blow to the head.
As a result of the report, Lauderdale County Sheriff Ronnie Willis said his department is now treating the case as a homicide.
Willis said the preliminary autopsy showed that 46-year-old Rusty L. Earnest died from blunt force trauma to the head.
"Apparently he was struck in the head with something," Willis said. "We don't know what that was at this point.''
Earnest's body was found inside his residence at 130 Travel Path Road, which is on Wheeler Lake. He was found about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Investigators said blood was found on the wooden patio area on the west side of the residence.
"From the blood that was found, it appears there was some kind of altercation outside and then the body was dragged back into the house,'' Willis said.
Authorities believe a fire was then set inside the house in hopes of covering up the homicide.
It was unclear Thursday how many times Earnest was struck, authorities said.
Earnest's body was discovered when a co-worker and Rogersville Police Chief Ty Barrett went to the residence to check on him after he failed to show up for work.
Barrett said black smoke billowed from the residence when he opened the front door. The smell of smoke lingered for hours after emergency workers arrived.
Earnest's body was found near the living room door, investigators said.
Willis said investigators worked until early Thursday morning, trying to develop leads and gather evidence.
"And they were back at the scene (Thursday) talking to neighbors and others who might have known him,'' the sheriff said.
"We've been running all day trying to come up with something that could help us,'' said Chief Investigator Travis Clemmons. "At this point, we're still trying to run down leads, but we haven't come up with anything solid.''
The sheriff said investigators are still trying to develop a motive for the homicide.
"There are still a lot of questions that we're trying to get answers to,'' Willis said.
Neighbors said Earnest lived at the lakefront residence for more than 10 years.
Willis said anyone with any information about the incident is asked to contact his department at 760-5757 or CrimeStoppers at 768-7552.
Tom Smith can be reached at 740-5757 or tom.smith@timesdaily.com.
