Joseph Glynn and Jackie Glynn (Nashville Police Department)
A 70-year-old Tennessee man was arrested this week for allegedly killing his 76-year-old wife by beating her to death with a hammer inside of their home on New Year’s Day, then driving to another county and burying her remains on property the couple owned.
Joseph Glynn was taken into custody on Friday and charged with one count each of murder, tampering with evidence, and abuse of a corpse in the slaying of Jackie Glynn, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
News of Joseph Glynn’s arrest broke hours after the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued a Silver Alert for Jackie Glynn, who had been reported missing. She was said to have last been seen at her home in the 2400 block of Abbott Martin Road in Nashville and was believed to be driving a 2010 Toyota RAV4. The alert stated that she had a “medical condition that may impair her ability to return safely without assistance.”
The TBI announced that Jackie Glynn’s body had been discovered Friday afternoon. The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department announced that her husband had been arrested and charged with her murder about four hours later.
A probable cause affidavit obtained by Nashville CBS affiliate WTVF provided additional details about the circumstances of Jackie Glynn’s death.
According to the report, Joseph Glynn told Jackie Glynn’s children earlier in the week their mother had left their home because she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, a claim that her doctors later refuted.
While police were investigating Jackie Glynn’s whereabouts on Friday, they interviewed Joseph Glynn, who said he had been at the couple’s Allen Bend Road property on Tuesday, where he lit a bonfire, WTVF reported. This prompted police to contact the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office to request a welfare check at the property.
Deputies reportedly said when they arrived at the address, they made contact with Jackie Glynn’s son, who was in the area searching for his mother. Authorities then spoke with a neighbor who said a large hole that had been dug on the Glynns’ property a few weeks earlier had just been filled in with fresh dirt.
“We went onto the property and found what we thought to be a burial site,” DeKalb County Sheriff Patrick Ray told the station. “We found out that the hole was dug on December 16 by a contractor who had been told by Mr. Glynn that he wanted the hole for a burn pit. The hole was six feet wide, ten feet long, and six feet deep.”
Inside the hole, authorities said they found Jackie Glynn’s body, which had been stuffed into a vehicle cargo box and covered with roofing shingles and a layer of dirt.
After the discovery of Jackie Glynn’s body, Joseph Glynn admitted that he struck his wife in the head with a hammer on Monday evening, killing her. Police say he then confessed to putting her body in his car the following day and driving to a 7-acre plot they owned in the 4600 block of Allen Bend Road in DeKalb County.
Police reportedly said Joseph Glynn told detectives that after hiding his wife’s body, he towed her Rav 4 and hid it so authorities wouldn’t find the vehicle. Joseph Glynn also reportedly told detectives that he threw the hammer in a trash compactor and then sold some of his wife’s possessions for cash.
Joseph Glynn is being held in lieu of $1,030,000 bond, records show. He is also likely to face additional charges in DeKalb County. Joseph Glynn is scheduled to appear in court again on Tuesday.
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