Victim in Chattanooga area homicide died from stab wounds, officials to file corpse abuse charges

Polk County, Tennessee, Sheriff Steve Ross on Thursday released more details in the homicide investigation that was launched after the October 2018 discovery of a man’s body in a shallow grave in the Cherokee National Forest.

Ross said in a news release that the partially-buried body of 26-year-old Apison, Tennessee, resident Jacob Dakota Moore discovered by bear hunters on Oct. 29 had been wrapped in a blue plastic tarp when it was found.

Ross said detectives were able to identify the body through the victim’s family members who recognized forensic sketches of tattoos found on the body.

The cause of death was determined by the coroner to be multiple stab wounds, Ross said.

The investigation led Polk County detectives to Hamilton County, he said.

“After many interviews with friends and associates the detectives developed [three] suspects and after interviewing the suspects, all [three] were charged by the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office,” Ross said of prosecution of the case moving to Chattanooga.

Polk County officials expect to file associated charges of abuse of a corpse there, he said.

Three men have been charged in the slaying, the last of them taken into custody Wednesday night.

Willie Jay Boyd, 39, was added to the TBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted List early on Wednesday and was taken into custody Wednesday evening in Rossville, Georgia, by the Walker County (Georgia) Sheriff’s Department with assistance from the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, according to a tweet from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

He had been the subject of a $2,500 reward for information, sought on charges of murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated robbery, false imprisonment and interference with a 911 call, according to a Wednesday TBI news release.

Boyd’s arrest came after the arrests over the past week of two other men in the ongoing investigation.

Askia Witherow, 39, of Ooltewah, was arrested Jan. 17 in Catoosa County, Georgia, and James David Robinson, 42, was charged Sunday in Hamilton County after he was found at a relative’s home, the TBI said in a news release.

Witherow is charged with one count of first-degree murder, one count of especially aggravated burglary, four counts of especially aggravated robbery, one count of kidnapping, four counts of false imprisonment and four counts of interference with an emergency call.

Robinson is charged with one count of first-degree murder, one count of especially aggravated kidnapping, four counts of especially aggravated robbery, four counts of false imprisonment, one count of criminal conspiracy and four counts of interference with an emergency call.

Witherow is held pending extradition to Tennessee and Robinson is being held at the Hamilton County Jail on a $930,000 bond, according to the TBI.

In the release, Ross thanked investigators Kevin Cole and Captain Brian Fields, in Polk County, “along with the TBI, 10th Judicial District General Attorney Steve Crump and his staff for the many hours of hard work and dedication in seeking justice for the family of Mr. Moore.”