Inset: Richard Keith Wilder (Marion County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The rural road where authorities say they found the burned body of Wilder’s father in a firepit (Google Maps).
A 56-year-old man in Tennessee has been arrested for allegedly hiding and burning the body of his dead father in a firepit.
Richard Keith Wilder was taken into custody last week and charged with one count of abuse of a corpse, authorities announced. Under state law, abuse of a corpse is a Class E felony punishable by up to 6 years in a state correctional facility as well as a maximum fine of $3,000.
According to a news release from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, investigators on the case “developed information” leading them to believe that “Wilder had hidden and burned his deceased father’s body at a location in Mullins Cove.” Mullins Cove is a rural road a few miles north of the state’s borders with Alabama and Georgia.
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Accompanied by investigators with the district attorney’s office, sheriff’s detectives responded to the area and quickly “located the human remains” believed to be Wilder’s father.
Those remains were “collected from a fire pit” and sent to the Medical Examiner’s Office in Nashville to confirm identification. The sheriff’s office reportedly told local newspaper Sequatchie Valley Now that the preliminary results are expected to come back by Monday or Tuesday.
Detectives with the neighboring Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the location and assisted with the recovery of the human remains, per the release.
“On August 14, 2025, Detectives and DA Investigators assisted by the 12th Judicial District Drug and Violent Crime Task Force went to Wilder’s residence and arrested Wilder,” the release states.
It was not immediately clear how Wilder’s father died.
Richard Keith Wilder (MCSO).
Wilder was transported and booked into the Marion County Justice Center and is currently scheduled to appear in General Sessions Court on Wednesday, Aug. 20.
While authorities said that no additional information on the case would be released due to the ongoing investigation, Marion County Sheriff Ronnie “Bo” Burnett reportedly told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that the investigation into Wilder’s father began back in 2024.
“His father passed away back in December, and he took him over to a spot on Mullins Cove and tried to destroy the body by fire, according to our investigators,” Burnett told the newspaper.
Wilder’s home is reportedly in Whitwell, Tennessee, around 20 miles north of Mullins Cove.
