A DeKalb County man has been identified as a “person of interest” in a Wilson County arson and homicide investigation at Statesville.
38 year old Alan Mooney, Jr., who resides on Old Snow Hill Road in DeKalb County, is under investigation in connection with the fire which occurred at the home of his father Alan Mooney, Sr. Human remains were found at the scene.
Sheriff Patrick Ray said that the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department has assisted Wilson County authorities. “We have assisted a little bit in the case as far as doing some searches and things at his residence. That’s all that we’ve done with it,” said Sheriff Ray.
Mooney’s brother, 36 year old Richard J. Mooney of Watertown stood trial in DeKalb County two years ago for felony murder and theft of property over $1,000 in the October, 2009 death of 63 year old Robert “Bob” Senick, whose remains were found in the rubble of his mobile home near Liberty, which had been burned to the ground. Although Richard Mooney was found not guilty in that case, he is currently serving a ten year prison sentence in a previous Rutherford County car jacking case.
According to the Wilson Post, ” Alan Mooney Sr.’s home and an outbuilding located on Armstrong Road in the Statesville area were reported on fire about 1:30 p.m., Friday, August 29
“Unidentifiable human remains” were discovered at the scene, said Wilson County Sheriff Robert Bryan late Saturday afternoon.
“We’re working this as an arson,” Bryan said, adding there were “suspicious circumstances.”
“We are releasing the name of the person (Alan Mooney, Sr.) that resided at the home who we cannot locate,” he said, adding “we have recovered remains at the house.”
The sheriff said his department’s investigators are working along with the state Bomb and Arson, Middle Tennessee State University Anthropology Department and the State Medical Examiner to identify the human remains, according to the Wilson Post report.
Wilson County Sheriff’s Department and Wilson County Emergency Management Agency, along with Watertown and Lascassas Volunteer Fire Departments responded to the fire.
Authorities on Friday afternoon began searching for “a person of interest” who they wanted to talk to but who they were unable to locate. However, that person, identified as Alan Mooney Jr., son of the resident of the burned home in Statesville, was located in a vehicle sometime around midnight, or shortly thereafter, and fled on Highway 96 going into Rutherford County.
Bryan said spike strips were deployed on two occasions in Rutherford County, but the person did not stop.
“It was a low-speed pursuit,” Bryan said, since the tires on the vehicle had been punctured by the spike strips.
Officers from WCSD, Murfreesboro Police Department, Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department and Tennessee Highway Patrol were involved in the pursuit.
Bryan said Mooney Jr. struck another vehicle at an intersection in Murfreesboro where he was taken into custody and charged with Reckless Endangerment and Assault on an Officer. He is being held in the Rutherford County Jail under $90,000 bond.
“We’ve been consulting with the District Attorney’s Office, and we’ll continue consulting. We’ll probably go before the grand jury in the next few weeks and go from there”, said Sheriff Bryan according to the Wilson Post report.
Archived News & Obituaries