Livingston Enterprise

Posted March 5, 2013 at 6:01 pm

A man arrested in a shooting death last September was indicted for first-degree murder in criminal court two weeks ago.

Suspect Travis Dewayne Melton, 35, of Hanging Limb, who was arrested for the murder of Donnie Wayne Tayes on September 17, appeared in court on February 20 for an arraignment hearing.

In addition to the charge of first-degree murder, he was indicted on charges of aggravated kidnapping and assault with threat of bodily injury.

Melton is to appear in court on March 27 for non-jury proceedings.

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An Overton County Sheriff’s deputy quickly located a missing child last Tuesday after the girl ran away into a wooded area.

According to Deputy Johnny Cyrus, he stopped on Celina Highway at the Overton and Clay County line for what he thought was a stranded motorist around mid-day February 19.

But instead, he found a woman who told him her 11-year-old daughter ran away from her into the woods. She said they had been arguing and she pulled over to the side of the road. She pointed out to Cyrus the direction the girl went.

Cyrus called for backup and also requested a search dog from Clay County but did not need either when he found the child hiding in a culvert within 10 minutes after he set off to search for her, the culvert being the first place he looked.

“I thought if I were a child, where would I hide?” Cyrus said about why he looked in the culvert first. “I had a feeling that’s where she was.”

Cyrus said he thought at the time if he could locate the child first then a need for a search party could be avoided.

Reportedly, the mother told the deputy she was about to call authorities about her missing daughter when he happened to arrive.

The mother and child were visiting Clay County from Seymour, Tennessee.