Court records identify second suspect in 2009 cold case

Angel Bumpass
Angel Bumpass

Court records show 23-year-old Angel Bumpass is the second person whom prosecutors believe was involved in a 2009 cold case slaying.

On Jan. 16, 2009, Chattanooga police found Franklin Bonner tied with duct tape to a kitchen table and chair inside his ransacked home in the 4000 block of Enterprise Lane. The tape was around his feet, arms and head, including his nose and mouth.

The medical examiner said Bonner, 68, had suffocated and ruled the case a homicide. His family said earlier this week he worked for the city of Chattanooga for 31 years.

Hamilton County District Attorney General Neal Pinkston said Tuesday he reopened the case earlier this year after one of Bonner's relatives called the district attorney's office on his death anniversary.

Pinkston said a grand jury returned indictments for felony murder and especially aggravated robbery against Mallory Vaughn, 36, turned himself into authorities on Wednesday.

Pinkston said a second person, who was a minor at the time, was also involved in Bonner's death. Juvenile Court records show that was Bumpass. She was 13 years old at the time.

Because she was underage at the time, the information about her alleged role in the crime was filed in a petition in Juvenile Court.

That petition stated that authorities pulled fingerprints from a furniture leg with duct tape and duct tape from the victim's head at the crime scene. It says the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation received her fingerprints on March 25, 2009.

The agency released a report to local authorities about Bumpass' fingerprints on April 12 of this year, the petition states.

Contact staff writer Emmett Gienapp at egienapp@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6731. Follow him on Twitter @emmettgienapp.

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