CATOOSA COUNTY, Ga. — One man is in custody and another is wanted by the U.S. Marshals Service after allegedly transporting a body over 40 miles across the Georgia-Tennessee line and burning the remains.
The victim, who has not been identified, died of an apparent drug overdose in Catoosa County, according to the sheriff’s office. Police said two men – Rickey Whittemore and Clarence Edward McCorkle – took the body to Marion County, Tennessee, set the body on fire and fled.
The body was discovered and sent to the medical examiner’s office for an autopsy.
Investigators said the person was found dead at a home on Whittemore Hollow Road in Ringgold sometime during the night of April 23, or early April 24. After burning the body in Marion County, police said Whittemore traveled to a home in Walker County where he burned items used to dispose of the body.
Whittemore was arrested on unrelated charges in Walker County on April 27 and was taken back to Catoosa County on April 29 where he was booked on several charges including concealing the death of another, tampering with evidence and felony probation violation. He made his first appearance in court and was denied bond by the Catoosa County Magistrate Court.
McCorkle is still at-large with fugitive detectives and the U.S. Marshals Service trying to track him down. He has been charged with concealing the death of another and tampering with evidence. McCorkle was already wanted in Catoosa County for felony probation violation, theft by taking and obstructing a police officer, according to the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office. He is also wanted in Hamilton County, Tennessee.
The victim’s name has not been released but Catoosa County officials said in a release that they believe they know the person’s identity. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has not released the name of the victim.
Anyone who might know McCorkle’s whereabouts or any details on this case is asked to call the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office at 706-935-2424, or call 911.
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