The apprehension of three dangerous suspects wanted in a Warren County murder case, has now led to the arrest of the District Attorney who was accompanying law enforcement in Smithville during the arrest attempt.
During a special session of the DeKalb County Grand Jury on Monday, a sealed indictment was issued against District Attorney General of the 31st Judicial District, 43-year-old Christopher Robert Stanford of McMinnville, charging him with reckless endangerment and discharging a firearm into an occupied habitat.
The incident in Smithville began in the late afternoon on Thursday, November 21, when the DeKalb Sheriff’s Department was contacted by Warren County Sheriff Jackie Matheny, Jr., about a lead concerning suspects in a murder case being in the area of Smithville.
On Wednesday, November 20, 2024, at approximately 8:50 a.m., officers with the Warren County Sheriff's Office responded to 900 Merry Oaks Road where a deceased male had been located inside a residence. Officials soon discovered two other bodies in an outbuilding on an adjacent property being used as a residence. The deceased were identified as the homeowner, William Piechocinski, Dana Ramsden, and Otis Hawks, II. The bodies were said to have already been in a decomposition stage at the time of the discovery.
According to DeKalb County Sheriff Patrick Ray, “[Warren County] Sheriff Matheny and his detectives, along with an officer from Homeland Security, came to DeKalb County because they had a lead on one of the suspects in a triple homicide this week in Warren County. We assisted them by going to a local store and pulling video footage, and found out who the subject was (40-year-old Jessica Root) and where the subject was staying. At around 3:45 pm we went over there. We found out that her boyfriend (28-year-old Caleb Diez Brookins), the other suspect in the triple murder, was on his way back from Nashville coming to Bell Street Apartments. We set up waiting on him to come to the apartments.”
“We had a vehicle description and he (Brookins) and another woman (21-year-old Hannah McKenzi Rose of Hickory Hollow Terrace in Antioch, TN) pulled into the parking lot. We thought that is who it was. It was hard to get a clear vision, but it was a white female and a black male in the car. They went to the end of Bell Street apartments and turned around. The sheriff’s departments from DeKalb and Warren Counties had people set up there.”
Sheriff Ray continued, “The female driving the car (Rose) rammed a DeKalb Sheriff’s Department truck operated by Chief Deputy Brian Williams, with passenger Detective Stephen Barrett, who were not hurt, but she hit a Homeland Security officer injuring his leg. They were trying to get away and ran up into a yard at a residence on Bell Street.”
It was at this time that District Attorney Stanford, who was on site, opened fire at the Rose vehicle, but failed to hit the vehicle or the suspects. Brookins reportedly exited the vehicle and took off running on foot. DeKalb EMS responded to Bell Street, where the Homeland Security officer was transported to the hospital with a leg injury. Brookins would eventually be caught by the TBI a couple of hours later in the housing projects on Wade Street.
Later that evening, 13th Judicial District Attorney General Bryant C. Dunaway released a statement regarding an investigation into the shots fired by DA Standford during the Bell Street incident.
“The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation began to investigate an incident that occurred on Bell Street in Smithville, DeKalb County, Tennessee,” Dunaway said. “The incident involved a report that the District Attorney for Warren County, Tennessee, Chris Stanford, fired shots during the attempted apprehension of a man named Caleb Brookins on outstanding warrants out of Warren County. He (Brookins) was later taken into custody on those warrants and transported to Warren County. No individual was shot in the incident.”
On Monday, Stanford turned himself in to the DeKalb Sheriff’s Department and has posted a $10,000 bond. He will make an appearance in DeKalb County General Sessions Court on January 7.
