Two men who helped a killer dispose of a body have entered guilty pleas, leaving only the alleged murderer waiting for trial in the case known as the hog farm murder in McMinnville.
The first defendant, Dustin Ray McKillip, entered a guilty plea before Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley to the charge of abuse of a corpse and was directed to serve five years in the state penitentiary. The second man, Gary Lee Lankford Jr., entered a guilty plea to the charge of being an accessory after the fact and was sentenced to one year in jail.
They were both originally charged with first-degree murder and could have faced life in prison if convicted. The alleged murderer, Timmie Lee Bain, 50, remains held in lieu of bond awaiting a trial date to be set for the murder of his roommate and co-worker, Daniel Mayo, who prosecutors say died at Bain’s hand over three years ago.
Bain stands charged with shooting Mayo in the face with a shotgun during a drunken argument at their apartment that adjoined a hog barn where they worked at Mud Creek. The incident was allegedly witnessed by Marie Parsley who had come to the residence to bring Bain dinner. She testified during preliminary hearing she walked in on Bain and Mayo cursing and yelling at one another and noted Bain pulled a shotgun.
Parsley said she advised Mayo to run but he didn’t take her advice. Instead, he stood outside taunting Bain, saying he didn’t even know how to fire a gun. That is when she said Bain walked out and shot Mayo in the face.
The woman recalled several people showed up at the residence shortly after the homicide. While she did not witness it, she said the men cleaned up blood and moved the body and threw it into a small pond on the hog farm. She said she saw the body floating a few days later and told people she intended to go to police. That is when she maintains McKillip threatened her life.
“You go to the police and I’ll kill you,” she recalled McKillip saying.
After the threat, Parsley said the men again moved the body and buried it elsewhere on the hog farm. The remains have not been found despite the best efforts of lawmen and cadaver dogs.
The defense has pointed out Parsley is a diagnosed schizophrenic and is bipolar. Her sister had her admitted to a mental hospital when she first made the claim of witnessing a murder.