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Benton County man murdered By SUE WATSON
Staff Writer A
suspect is in custody at the Marshall County jail, charged with murder
in the death of a Benton County resident, said sheriff Kenny Dickerson. The
victim’s body was found by passersby and reported to authorities around
8:27 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 2. The body of Oscar Lee Nunnally, of Hoover
Road in Benton County west of Ashland, was identified by relatives
Monday. Nunnally was found semiconscious when
law enforcement and medical personnel arrived at the scene of Kimbrough
Chapel Road near the intersection with S. Slayden Road, the sheriff
said. Officer David Cook, armed with
information regarding a man who had sought medical attention earlier in
the morning, took a dying declaration from the victim, according to
Dickerson. The sheriff said Nunnally nodded his head in the affirmative
when asked if he knew his assailant and then when the deputy called the
name of a suspect. A dying declaration is a
statement taken from a person who believes his death is imminent – (the
declaration) relating to the cause or the circumstance of the person’s
impending death. The statement is admissible in court as evidence as an
exception to the hearsay rule, Dickerson said. Nunnally was airlifted to The Med in Memphis where he died later in the morning Saturday. Dickerson
said investigators began making inquiries “everywhere we knew – to
identify the location of the suspect, Bruce Elliott Anderson, 32, who
lived on Luellen Road.” Authorities contacted
the suspect’s parents who agreed to bring Anderson in for questioning.
After he was taken into custody, deputies proceeded to collect
evidence, including the vehicle driven by Anderson and articles in a
burn pile which were believed to have contained material from the
suspect’s car and items of his clothing. Anderson remained in jail Monday pending an arraignment in justice court to set his next court date and/or bond. The
sheriff said authorities believe the victim was picked up at at a local
tavern in Holly Springs in the late hours of Friday night or early
Saturday morning. “We are looking at robbery
being a motive because the victim’s right pants pocket was turned out
and there were no items of value or identification on the victim’s
person,” the sheriff said. Nunnally’s relatives
brought in photographs which were compared to mug shots taken several
years back by the sheriff’s department and with photographs taken of
the victim at the location where he was discovered on Kimbrough Chapel
Road.
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