The suspect in the killing of a father and son last summer at their package store business in Static has been indicted by a Pickett County Grand Jury.

Joshua C. Pyles, Monticello, Ky., was formerly indicted last week by the Pickett County Grand Jury on two counts of first degree premeditated murder in relation to the shooting deaths of Dannie Dowdy, 58, and his son, Cody Dowdy, 22.

The murders occurred at the Sugar Shack, a well-known package store just across the Kentucky state line in the Static Community.

Pickett County law enforcement was called to the scene of the Sugar Shack in the early morning hours of Thursday, July 31 when the bodies of the victims were discovered inside the establishment.

During the investigation that followed, the Pickett County Sheriff’s Department was joined by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation as well as the Clinton County Sheriff’s Department and the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department.

TBI spokesperson Josh Devine told the Clinton County News last summer that Pyles was arrested the following day, Friday, August 1, without incident.

Pyles was charged at that time with two counts of First Degree Murder, Devine said at the time.

According to an article that appeared in the Cookeville Herald-Citizen newspaper last Wednesday by staff writer Tracey Hackett, prosecutors in the case have filed a notice with the intent to seek life without the possibility of parole in the case.

In an interview with Bryant Dunaway, the 13th Judicial District Attorney General, the H-C reporter noted that robbery was a likely motive that led to the murders.

“There appears to be no personal relationship between the defendant and the victims. There certainly was no familial bond between them,” Dunaway told Hackett for the article. “At this time, we believe robbery was a possible motive for the murders, because there was some cash taken from the establishment at the time the murders happened.”

In the August 7, 2014 issue of the Clinton County News, TBI spokesman Devine noted that video surveillance equipment was in place at the Sugar Shack.

“The building does have surveillance video, as we understand. We are currently working to see, however, if that will wield any evidence that might help in this investigation,” Devine said at the time.

Apparently, that surveillance equipment did, in fact, help investigators with the case.

In last week’s H-C article, a report by TBI Special Agent Steve Huntley, the officer who originally arrested Pyles, noted that “the video depicts Joshua Pyles inside of the Sugar Shack.”

The report went on to say that surveillance video also clearly depicts Pyles allegedly shooting the Dowdys with a handgun.

The report noted that the father, Danny Dowdy, was shot first with one bullet, then his son, Cody Dowdy, was shot next, once.

It goes on to say that the suspect returned “to the area where he shot Danny Dowdy the first time” and fired a second round at him as he lay on the floor.

The report explained that the shots that killed the victims were fired at close range.

In both counts of the indictment returned last week by the Pickett County Grand Jury, it was noted that the suspect acted “intentionally, deliberately and with premeditation” in the killings.

The victims were well known in communities on both sides of the state line, with several family members currently residing in Clinton County.

No firm trial date has been set, but Dunaway and Assistant District Attorney Owen Burnett are the prosecutors on the case and Cookeville attorney Laurie Seber has been appointed to represent Pyles.

Pyles is being held without bond in the Overton County Jail in Livingston, Tennessee.