Soddy-Daisy police arrest three in beating, stabbing death of man found in cemetery

Chad Massengale, Roy Henderson and Dekota Burchard
Chad Massengale, Roy Henderson and Dekota Burchard

Chad Massengale, Dekota Burchard and Roy Henderson III are not strangers to the courtroom.

But their newest criminal charge trumps the litany of offenses the three had garnered before.

The trio, each with a string of alleged offenses in the Hamilton County courts files, are now facing criminal homicide charges in connection with the December 2015 beating and stabbing death of 51-year-old Tony Rector.

Soddy-Daisy police arrested Massengale, 30, on Sunday without incident and charged Burchard, 27, and Henderson, 26, Monday afternoon in Rector's death.

The charges brought an end to a month-long investigation that required investigators to dot the map.

They are being held at the Hamilton County Jail on $2 million bond, according to Lt. Jeff Gann, interim chief of the Soddy-Daisy Police Department.

Police found Rector's body at the Soddy Presbyterian Cemetery on Dec. 29, and a Hamilton County medical examiner's report showed last month his death was caused by blunt force and stab wounds.

Gann credited a Soddy-Daisy detective team and a Hamilton County Sheriff's Office investigations unit for their work on the case.

"They put in some long, hard hours on this," Gann said. "This investigation actually took us into a couple of different states at different times."

Massengale already was scheduled to appear before Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Don Poole on Feb. 12 on a charge of having contraband in a penal institution stemming from another recent encounter with the law.

Henderson and Burchard already were in jail on other charges when police interviewed them about their role in Rector's slaying, Gann said. They were slapped with the criminal homicide charge Monday.

Massengale's criminal history includes several other alleged violent crimes, as well as drug and driving violations.

The district attorney dismissed a 2007 attempted second-degree murder charge against Massengale. In that incident, he was accused of trying to run over a former girlfriend after attempting to retrieve some of his things from her home on Barbara Lane in Soddy-Daisy.

Drug and weapons charges against him were dismissed in August.

Burchard had been charged with theft and burglary previously. Henderson had been charged with several driving violations, including driving under the influence.

Rector was a Marion County native, husband and father of six. He was buried at Tate Cemetery south of Monteagle in January.

Gann said previous media reports claiming Rector was homeless were not accurate.

"Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the Rector family," Gann said. "I can only imagine they're reliving this now. Not that they forgot it in a month's time, but now they're having to relive it with these charges.

"Hopefully this can bring some closure."

Contact staff writer David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.

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