The Warren County Grand Jury handed down three felony indictments Friday for a 43-year-old man allegedly tied to the disappearance and death of a DeKalb County woman.
Joshua Wayne Goff, 43, was indicted on two counts of tampering with evidence, along with one count of abuse of a corpse.
The charges stem from his arrest in mid-August after a joint investigation between the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office, the Smithville Police Department, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and District Attorney’s offices from both Warren and DeKalb counties into the disappearance of Rebecca Maxfield, 29, whose body was found in a cornfield near New Bildad Rd. on Aug. 9.
Maxfield had been reported missing on Aug. 4, and WCSO investigators found her five days later, sending her body to Nashville for positive identification which came in four days before Goff’s arrest.
Counts one and two of the three-count indictment state between July 30 and Aug. 9 of this year, Goff “did alter, destroy or conceal any record, document or thing... with intent to impair its verity, legibility or availability as evidence in the investigation or criminal proceeding, constituting the offense of tampering with evidence.” The evidence in question, according to court documents, are a black LG cell phone, as well as Maxfield’s body.
The third indictment states during that same time span, Goff “did, without legal privilege, unlawfully and knowingly physically mistreat a corpse in a manner offensive to the sensibilities of an ordinary person, constituting the offense of abuse of a corpse.”
Goff is currently being held under a $1 million bond which was raised to that amount at his own request during his arraignment Aug. 20.
Tampering with evidence is a Class C felony, and can carry a 10-year jail sentence along with a fine of up to $10,000.
Abuse of a corpse, a Class E felony, can carry a sentence of between one and six years, as well as a maximum fine of $3,000.