BENTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Benton County man was indicted in the death of his former girlfriend. Investigators say Jimmy Beck Jr. knew she had reportedly killed herself, but he never alerted authorities or reported the incident.
The Benton County Grand Jury indicted Jimmy Beck Jr. on charges of failure to report a death under suspicious, unusual or unnatural circumstances and tampering with or fabricating evidence. On Monday, Oct. 26, Jimmy Beck Jr. was arrested and booked into the Benton County Jail on $5,000 bond.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says Beck Jr. knew of the suicide of his then-girlfriend Melanie Herndon, but instead of calling authorities he flew to California and told his father.
His father then called the Benton County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators found Herndon dead inside her home on the 4700 block of Point Mason Road in Big Sandy on Nov. 26, 2019.
Jimmy Beck Jr. never contacted authorities to personally report the incident or give an account of what he witnessed. An autopsy determined Herndon died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
