William "Billy" Hawk, the bowling alley owner arrested earlier this week in connection with a 34-year-old murder, will make his first court appearance Friday, according to the Hamilton County District Attorney's Office.
William "Billy" HawkCleveland, Tenn., defense attorney Jim Logan has agreed to represent Hawk and expedited his arraignment before Judge Don Poole to 11 a.m. in Criminal Court.
Hawk, 61, is accused of murdering Johnny Mack Salyer, who was found June 3, 1981, inside a 55-gallon steel drum floating on Chickamauga Lake. His body was so badly decomposed that authorities could not determine how he died.
At the time, Salyer, who was 27 when he disappeared, and Hawk were co-defendants in a pending cocaine distribution case.
Hawk, whose father owned the Holiday Bowl on Brainerd Road, was arrested Tuesday morning at his home in Greene County, Tenn. The grand jury indicted him the day before on one charge of first-degree murder and set a $500,000 bond.
"There's a tremendous amount of work to be done," Logan said Wednesday, "since the government has been working on this matter for 34 years and I just learned about it last night."