Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Monteagle authorities seek help in 2015 cold case

Kenneth Tate thumbnail
Kenneth Tate thumbnail
photo Contributed photo / Kenneth "Tim" Tate, 65, of Monteagle, Tenn., was found dead June 2, 2015, at his home on Third Street. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Monteagle police are seeking information in Tate's slaying.

A 2015 TBI and Monteagle, Tennessee, police investigation into the death of a man well-known in the community for helping others has been revived as a cold case.

"Kenneth Tate was known to most in his Monteagle community as 'Tim.' He was killed in the spring of 2015," Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Susan Niland said. "TBI special agents and officers with Monteagle Police Department who have continued to investigate this murder think that there is someone in the community that might hold the key to being able to solve this crime."

Tate had an "open-door" policy at his mobile home at 206 Third St. in Monteagle, she said. "He invited in anyone who needed help and provided food to those who were hungry."

On June 1, 2015, Tate hosted a small gathering, Niland said.

"[T]he next morning, which was a Tuesday, police were called to his trailer after a family member reported going to his home and finding the 65-year-old deceased," she said. Tate's death was ruled a homicide.

A new mobile home now stands beside the empty one where Tate had lived, Niland said.

Preliminary autopsy results showed Tate died of blunt-force trauma "inflicted by at least one, or possibly two, instruments," 12th Judicial District Mike Taylor said in 2015 as police looked for leads. Authorities haven't said what the motive in the slaying might be. "Trace" evidence collected from the scene was analyzed as part of the probe, according to Taylor.

Tate had lived alone at his Third Street home since at least 1994, former Monteagle police Chief Virgil McNeese said during the 2015 investigation.

(READ MORE: Grundy authorities seeking man missing south of Tracy City)

A TBI agent recently discussed what kind of information might help in the case and what the crime scene looked like five years ago.

Vegetation on the property around Tate's former mobile home, just three blocks off Monteagle's Main Street, has changed since five years ago but some might remember its original appearance, TBI agent Gerrit Graves said in a TBI cold case video.

"A lot of it's cut down now but this used to be grown-up trees and there was a walking path that would come through and a lot of people would walk from Lee Avenue over to the residence," Graves said as he stood along the roadside in Monteagle recently.

Graves said investigators are looking for anything out of the ordinary such as odd noises, arguments or loud voices on the night of June 1, 2015, or early morning hours of the next day.

(READ MORE: Investigator still looking for clues in 1985 Marion County, Tenn., cold case death)

INFORMATION SOUGHT

Anyone with any information about the slaying of 65-year-old Monteagle, Tennessee, resident Kenneth “Tim” Tate is urged to contact the Monteagle Police Department at 931-924-2077 or the TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND or by email at tipstotbi@tn.gov.

Niland noted that there should have been no vehicles in the driveway at 206 Third St. on June 1 or June 2, 2015. If one was seen there, investigators want to know about it, she said.

Graves said even if seemingly related information came to light after the fact or if someone only noticed another person acting unusual, investigators want to hear from them.

"We've got different pieces of the puzzle, and we need to connect those pieces together," he said.

Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569. Follow him on Twitter @BenBenton or at www.facebook.com/benbenton1.

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