(07/01/2009)
By Bob Weaver

State Police have yet to make public a motive for the gunshot deaths of a Calhoun couple on Easter Sunday.

Lead investigator Trooper Fred Hammack did not respond to public information requests regarding the agencies consensus regarding what the motive could be in the slaying of Julie and Mike Flanagan on Sycamore Creek.

Hammack also denied a request to confirm if a motive is still unclear, or whether there are any new leads in the investigation.

Motives are generally given by police agencies, considering such information is often essential to relieve or raise public concerns regarding the murderer, or the information could be helpful in catching the perpetrators.

Shortly after the murders on Sycamore Creek, State Police told WTAP-TV “Right now the motive behind their murders is still unclear.”

The Herald interviewed neighbors near the murder scene on Sycamore Creek, with several saying state policemen gave them a motive for the crime.

Julie and Mike Flanagan, both 52, were brutally killed up-close by gunshots, reportedly sitting in chairs.

The Herald did learn the official cause of death.

Mike Flanagan died of “multiple shotgun wounds to the head and upper limbs.”

Julie Flanagan also died of “shotgun wounds to the head and right upper limbs.”

Officer Hammack and other State Police officers arrested former Calhoun resident John Cash in Mississippi on drug charges, returning him to Calhoun. See Cash “No Longer Suspect” In Flanagan Homicides

Cash’s arrest, according to the State Police criminal complaint, had linked him to being a suspect in the murders.

Trooper Hammack apparently obtained statements from several Calhoun and Roane residents who allegedly purchased drugs from Cash, the individuals likely agreeing to testify against Cash.

Hammack said in the criminal complaint against Cash, he was arrested on the drug charges as a result of a statement made (about the murders) by an unidentified person during the police’s murder investigation.

Cash passed a lie detector test in Mississippi indicating his innocence.

Public information regarding the murders from the State Police in Calhoun has been scarce to the Calhoun Chronicle or the Hur Herald, with officers preferring to talk to state media.

State Police have yet to make a public pleas to county residents for assistance to help solve the crime.

GRANDMOTHER AND FOUR-YEAR-OLD GRANDSON KILLED IN ROANE CRASH

(06/30/2009)
A grandmother, Kathy Saunders, 57 and her four-year-old grandson died in a two vehicle collision west of Spencer this morning.

A third person, an eight-year-old child was taken to the hospital, with condition unknown.

Reports indicate the accident happened about 9:30 a.m. at the intersection of Route 33 and Reedyville Road.

Police have said a truck was heading east and the Saunders vehicle was going west. The Saunders car reportedly hit a low-boy trailer attached to the truck.

The driver of the truck was not injured.