Two people are being held without bond after being arrested in connection with a vehicle fire death in South Pittsburg in February 2023, according to the TBI.
Jeneal Whitmore, 41, and Stephen Macari, 28, are both charged on a grand jury indictment with first-degree murder in the vehicle fire death of Keith Whitmore, 49, the husband of Jeneal Whitmore, according to a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation news release. TBI agents obtained the indictments.
On Feb. 9, 2023, District Attorney General Courtney Lynch requested TBI agents join the South Pittsburg Police Department in a vehicle fire investigation off a steep ravine in the 1300 block of Raulston Town Road, Josh DeVine, spokesperson for the state agency, said in the release.
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"As they inspected the scene, authorities discovered the remains of a man, later identified as 49-year-old Keith Whitmore, inside the charred vehicle," DeVine said in the release. "During the investigation, agents developed information leading to Keith's wife, Jeneal Whitmore, and Stephen Macari as those responsible for the death."
The indictments were issued Monday by a Marion County grand jury, officials said.
Wayne Jordan, South Pittsburg's police chief, could not be reached for comment on the arrests and did not return a message left on his cellphone.
On Thursday, authorities located Whitmore in Franklin, Tennessee, and booked her into the Williamson County Jail until her transfer Friday to the Marion County Jail, TBI officials said. The Lewisburg Police Department arrested Macari on Thursday, after which authorities subsequently booked him in Marion County.
Contacted by phone, officials at the Marion County Circuit Court Clerk's Office said Whitmore and Macari face motion hearings in Criminal Court on Feb. 20. Neither Whitmore or Macari had a lawyer on record, and no bond has been set, according to officials at the Marion County Jail.
Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.