Shayne "Austin, key player in the Holly Bobo kidnapping-murder case, was found dead after allegedly committing suicide."
A key player in the case of murdered nursing student Holly Bobo apparently committed suicide, his lawyer said.
Shayne Austin, once expected to testify in the high-profile kidnapping slay, was discovered dead out of state and seems to have killed himself,
defense attorney Luke Evans told WSMV on Monday.
"It's unfortunate the government came in and made allegations without basis,"
Evans told WSMV. "People had to live with those allegations ... under the cloud of those allegations."
Austin was a “person of interest” in the 2011 killing and was offered immunity by prosecutors to cooperate in a case against suspect Zach Adams. But prosecutors soon scrapped the deal, claiming Austin lied to them and wasn’t holding up his end of the bargain to cooperate.
An assistant prosecutor had suggested in a March 2014 email to Evans that it was only a matter of time before they filed charges against his client.
"When we indict your client, I will give you a courtesy call informing you," Assistant District Attorney General Beth Boswell told Evans in the
email obtained by the Jackson Sun.
Holly Bobo, 20, was kidnapped and murdered in 2011 in Tennessee, authorities say.
Adams and Jason Autry were both indicted on murder and kidnapping charges in Bobo’s death.
The young student disappeared in April 2011 and was missing for three years until two men found her remains in the woods near land owned by Adams’ family.
Austin had long insisted he had nothing to do with Bobo’s death, and he filed a civil suit against prosecutors after they pulled his cooperation agreement.
“Mr. Austin’s position was that he was was immune not just from being convicted of a crime, but charged with a crime,"
Evans told WSMV.
Details, including the location, of Austin’s death weren’t immediately available."[/QUOTE]