When authorities pulled Johnny “Mack” Salyer from a 55-gallon steel drum at Chickamauga Lake 34 years ago, his body was so badly decomposed they couldn’t tell how he died.
Clad in underwear and stuffed into the barrel, Salyer remained anonymous until his roommate and cousin identified him by a Rolling Stones tattoo on his right inner thigh.
“There is no doubt the man met with foul play,” a Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office detective said in June 1981. “He was stuffed into a 55-gallon drum which had been sealed and six holes were burnt into it with an acetylene torch.”
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Foam Fest
Local restaurants and bars serve beer & wine party to benefit the Arthritis Foundation in the Rivermarket, Friday, June 27.
Despite naming a primary suspect, over the next three decades authorities could not crack the case – until this week.