North Georgia law enforcement arrested a second suspect in the burning of a dead woman's body last week.
Lauren Deshea LowranceCatoosa County Sheriff Gary Sisk said investigators received a tip Wednesday that Clarence Edward McCorkle was near Life Storage at 1013 Battlefield Parkway in Fort Oglethorpe. Law enforcement from several agencies tracked him there, arresting him on charges of concealing a dead body and tampering with evidence. He was booked into the Catoosa County Jail around 6:30 p.m., according to the sheriff's office website.
Sisk also confirmed that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation identified the victim as 18-year-old Lauren Deshea Lowrance, of Hixson. Sisk and Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson both confirmed that the other defendant in the case, Ricky Lee Whittemore, has participated with detectives on the investigation. While not divulging anything Whittemore specifically said, both sheriffs told the Times Free Press that Lowrance is believed to have overdosed at 385 Whittemore Hollow Road in Ringgold.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Whittemore and McCorkle drove Lowrance's body across the state line and burned it on April 24 or 25. A train conductor found the body near railroad tracks in New Hope, Tennessee, on Friday.
"I don't know his reasoning for anything they did," Sisk said.
Clarence Edward McCorkle / Photo from right2know.timesfreepress.com
Ricky Lee WhittemoreWhen he returned from New Hope, Whittemore allegedly began burning evidence in his girlfriend's yard on Chastain Drive in LaFayette. On Saturday, Wilson said, one of Whittemore's girlfriend's neighbors called the sheriff's office because she said she was scared of Whittemore. She didn't know him, but he pulled into her driveway and began muttering something. She didn't know what he said, but she told investigators she saw a gun in his back pocket. (The weapon turned out to be a BB gun, according to the incident report.)
After deputies arrested Whittemore, Wilson said, they learned from an acquaintance that Whittemore was tied to the dead body found in New Hope the day before.
"He confided in this friend some details about the body that they had taken to Marion County and disposed of and set on fire," Wilson said. "And at the same point, I think [the source] pointed out a burned pile on Chastain [Drive]."
The next day, a team from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation examined the pile. Wilson said they found items Whittemore and McCorkle may have used to scrub evidence. Investigators also found what appeared to be women's clothes.
After speaking with Whittemore, investigators tried to locate McCorkle, who had an Ooltewah address. Sisk said detectives received several potential locations for him for several days, but they couldn't find him. After the sheriff's office publicly released his name and mugshot Wednesday, they received more tips, which led them to the storage facility.
"Our phone rang off the hook," he said.
Detectives moved Whittemore from the Walker County Jail to Catoosa County on Monday, and he is being held without a bond. The Catoosa County Sheriff's Office planned to advocate against a bond for McCorkle, as well.
Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at 423-757-6476 or tjett@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @LetsJett.