Meigs County deputies told two men arguing over a car Sunday that it wasn’t a law enforcement matter but a civil court case.
A few hours later, one of the men was dead and the other charged with second-degree murder, law officers said.
Detective Scotty Wiggins with the Meigs County Sheriff’s Office said Donald Hunter, 45, called the sheriff’s office on Sunday, asking to ask authorities to settle his dispute with Rodney Teffeteller, his neighbor on Foree Lane in Ten Mile, Tenn.
“Officers talked to both Hunter and the other party and decided the matter was a civil matter that would have to be taken up in civil court,” Detective Wiggins said Tuesday.
Several hours later, Mr. Hunter’s landlord called the sheriff’s office to say that he had found Mr. Teffeteller dead, Detective Wiggins said.
Investigators interviewed a witness, then walked to Mr. Hunter’s home and found a shotgun and used shotgun shells on the front porch, he said.
Mr. Hunter admitted the shooting in a taped interview with a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent present, the detective said. He told interviewers he and Mr. Teffeteller had argued over a vehicle that one of them had bought.
Mr. Hunter was being held Tuesday in the Meigs County Jail on a $100,000 bond, records show. His preliminary hearing is set for March 4.
Meigs County assistant public defender Betsy Irving has been assigned to Mr. Hunter’s case, according to court records. She could not be reached for comment and an employee in her office said in a voice mail message that Ms. Irving does not comment on pending cases.