Yep, I lived in that area for 20 years. The local cops did basically NOTHING until the Nashville news media picked up the story. He wasn't "local," he wasn't kin to anyone they knew, so they didn't much care. When the media got involved, the sheriff's department got involved, too. And now, that they FINALLY decided to treat it like a criminal case a couple of weeks ago, the TBI (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation) are involved. I figure they are at least a bit more professional, more well-trained, and have more tools to work with. But so far, none of them have turned up a darn thing worth truly investigating.
One thing they were onto a couple of weeks ago was this poor couple David recently built a koi pond for. They are good friends with David, and there was no reason we could see to suspect them, but the local cops accused them of killing him and burying him in the pond. WTH? This turned out to be NOT the case, as we figured, but they spent a good deal of time frightening these poor people (who, of course, are outsiders in their eyes), and ignoring leads others closer to the situation were trying to get them to pursue (like the old girlfriend, and another local lowlife who was actually going around bragging that he'd killed David--good grief! bragging? really?--but now they say both of them "check out"
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And yes, I definitely feel that the clannish mentality is playing a part. They are protecting their own. Someone knows something and isn't talking because it would implicate kinfolks or some such. This "us and them" thing is prevalent there. It's like there are two communities: the born-and-raised-there locals (which includes Bible-thumpers, lowlife rednecks, and a few otherwise good-hearted and decent folks) and the outsiders, the "for'ners" (whom most see as librul hippie artist Yankees). There's some crossover, but not a whole lot. So, yeah, some local politics and associated crap has been a part of this all along.
I have this image in my head of some hunter finding him once the leaves fall and hunting season starts up. I hope I'm wrong, but that is an image that keeps popping up. It's very difficult to find anything in the woods there in the summer because of all the lush growth. It's just too dense.
As for others in the circle of friends, there just doesn't seem to be much there to investigate.
He took money out of the bank on Monday or Tuesday, not sure which, for the trip to Michigan. Anyone close to him knew he was going. It's possible someone saw him do that, and got it in their head to rob him, but why wait til Wednesday? I dunno. The security cameras at the bank revealed nothing that looked suspicious.
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