State OKs independent review after bullet recovered from man's remains in grisly 1981 homicide

Billy Hawk
Billy Hawk
photo William "Billy" Hawk
photo Victim Mack Salyer, pictured, and murder suspect Billy Hawk were co-defendants in a pending cocaine distribution case. A third co-defendant, Debra Bales, married Billy Hawk several months after their arrests. Records of the initial Hamilton County Sheriff's Office investigation show Billy Hawk was the primary suspect in Mack's murder.

Johnny "Mack" Salyer was unrecognizable when authorities pulled his body from a 55-gallon steel drum in the summer of 1981.

Police, in their investigation, would ultimately target William "Billy" Hawk, who was a co-defendant with Salyer in a 1981 cocaine distribution case. But nothing became of the investigation until 34 years later, when a Hamilton County grand jury indicted the 61-year-old bowling alley owner on first-degree murder charges in mid-September.

Hawk, who is in Hamilton County Jail on a $500,000 bond, is scheduled to go to trial on April 5.

On Monday, his lawyer, Jim Logan, said the state agreed to let him due an independent medical review of Salyer's body after the state recently recovered a bullet from his exhumed remains.

The bullet, which was sent as evidence to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, was received Nov. 18, said spokesman Josh DeVine. The bureau promptly issued a firearms report to the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office on Nov. 24, he said.

Contacted about the report, Hamilton County Sheriff's spokesman Matt Lea referred all questions to the District Attorney's office, which did not discuss the case Monday. Mike Mathis, head of the DA's Cold Case Unit, said he had not yet seen it. The state has not publicly released much evidence in the case.

On June 2, 1981, William Greene fished a 55-gallon steel drum from Chickamauga Lake after he and his wife, Maxine, noticed it bobbing near the dock at their home on Rocky Point Road. After he discovered the barrel riddled with holes and reeking of dead fish, he pushed it back into the slough, news archives show.

The next day, Maxine Greene called the U.S. Coast Guard, who called police, because the barrel's odor was unbearable. They found Salyer inside, stuffed bottom-first, clad only in underwear.

Since his arrest, Hawk was indicted Nov. 10 on federal charges for felon in possession of a firearm in Greeneville, Tenn., court records show. In 2004, a federal judge sentenced Hawk to 20 months of prison for possessing more than 100 guns and another 10,000 rounds of ammunition.

Logan, who has been reviewing 34 years of evidence since the arrest, said he is working with Hawk to hold the April trial date.

The next status hearing is set for Feb. 8.

Contact Zack Peterson at zpeterson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347. Follow @zackpeterson918.

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