A completed autopsy report will probably determine whether charges will arise from the death of a Pikeville, Tenn., man whose body was found at a home in Northwest Bledsoe County on July 10.
William Keith Smith, 26, was found dead July 10 at a home on Paul Holland Road, a few miles north of Fall Creek Falls State Park. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is assisting Bledsoe County authorities in the probe.
Mike Taylor, district attorney for the 12th Judicial District, said late last week that a completed autopsy report could still be "several weeks" away. Taylor said the day the body was found that Smith's "doesn't appear to be a natural death."
"I don't know what the cause of death was. I can't say whether there's foul play," Taylor said last week. "We know that the deceased was engaged in an altercation shortly before he was found dead. But I can't say that was the cause of his death."
Staff file photo by Tim Barber 12th Judicial District Attorney General Mike Taylor."The preliminary indication was that the altercation - the fight he apparently engaged in - they did not think it was the immediate cause of death," he said. The completed autopsy could reveal other causes.
Taylor said he couldn't expand further on the details of the altercation.
"I think the TBI has interviewed most of the people directly connected," Taylor said. He said he didn't know whether TBI interviews were concluded.
Smith's neighbor was the caller who notified authorities early Friday morning about the death, authorities said the day the body was found. The neighbor was not identified.
TBI spokeswoman Susan Niland was equally mum, saying only that the state agency is looking into the matter as a "death investigation."
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or twitter.com/BenBenton or www.facebook.com/ben. benton1 or 423-757-6569.