The brother and girlfriend of a man wanted for killing a Tennessee State Police lieutenant and wounding another have been arrested, and the manhunt for the suspect entered its fourth day Monday.
Kenneth DeHart, 42, shot and killed Blount County Sheriff’s Deputy Greg McCowan, 43, and injured Deputy Shelby Eggers, 22, during a traffic stop in Maryville Thursday night. He has been charged with suspicion.
DeHart’s brother, Marcus DeHart, 41, was arrested and charged with aiding and abetting a suspect after the murder, Brown County District Attorney Ryan Desmond announced Friday.
The brothers were jailed and Desmond said they were due back in court on Monday.
A woman identified by news outlets as the shooting suspect’s girlfriend, Carrie Matthews, 32, was arrested Thursday night in neighboring Sevier County on charges of being an accessory after the fact and was jailed Saturday, records show. Remaining.
After the two were arrested, authorities encouraged the public to come forward with information regarding DeHart’s whereabouts, and the reward was increased to $100,000.
“Someone knows where he is. Someone is protecting him,” Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) Director David Rausch said Sunday. “My question to them is, why?”
Deputies initiated a traffic stop on suspicion of erratic operation of a sport utility vehicle (SUV) after the driver, identified as DeHart, refused to exit the vehicle, the TBI said in a news release.
Deputies used a stun gun, but it had no effect.
At some point, the driver pulled out a gun and fired, striking both deputies, the agency said. At least one deputy fired shots as Mr. DeHart drove away from the scene.
McCowan, who started working full-time at the sheriff’s office in 2020 after working as a reserve deputy, was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Warrants were issued in search of DeHart for first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
“We’re going to turn over every rock,” Rausch said. “We’ll find him, no doubt.”
