Leads still sought in Coffee County rock quarry homicide

HOW TO HELP

Anyone with information on the discovery of the victim's body is asked to call the Coffee County Sheriff's Office at 931-728-3591 or the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation at 800-TBI-FIND or 800-824-3463.

photo Site of Coffee County homicide

TBI agents and Coffee County investigators still are looking for leads to explain what happened to a 51-year-old woman whose partially burned body was found in an old rock quarry March 9.

"I wished we had something to go on, but there's nothing new that I know of," Coffee County Sheriff's Investigator Bill Marcom said Monday.

Investigators are puzzled about who would want to hurt Connie Lou Brown, Marcom said. Brown had a few run-ins with law enforcement over the years, but nothing serious or violent, he said.

Preliminary autopsy results show Brown was killed by a single gunshot to the chest.

Her body was found in the area of an old rock quarry dubbed the "Summitville caves." The "caves" are deep rock cuts left behind by quarry operators.

The remote area between Manchester and McMinnville is frequented by people who go there to hike and ride all-terrain vehicles, but officials don't believe Brown was there for those kinds of activities, officials said.

Marcom said she was not dressed for being outdoors or hiking.

TBI spokeswoman Kristin Helm said at the beginning of the investigation that officials believe Brown was killed elsewhere and her body dumped at the quarry "due to evidence found [and] not found at the scene."

Investigators identified Brown's body once they made a connection to a missing person report in Warren County.

Warren County Sheriff Jackie Matheny said Brown had a few friends in the area, one of whom had relatively frequent contact with her.

Matheny said that friend reported Brown missing after not hearing from her for a week to 10 days. The friend had spoken with Brown by phone but had not seen her recently, the sheriff said. Brown did not have a permanent address.

An obituary in the Bryan (Ohio) Times from March 16 lists the victim as Connie Lou Brown Godsey, formerly of Montpelier, Ohio. She left behind two daughters, a granddaughter and several brothers and sisters, and she had lived in the McMinnville area for about 15 years, the obituary states.

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