Country legend Jean Shepards granddaughter stabbed to death
The teenage granddaughter of late country music pioneer Jean Shepard was stabbed to death and the songwriter’s husband was also knifed during a bloody rampage in their Tennessee home, according to published reports Monday.
A third person was fatally shot in Saturday’s early morning attack at the Shepard’s home on Elenora Court in Hendersonville, Tenn., the Tennessean reported.
Police received a 911 call at about 3 a.m. and soon arrived at the residence, which had been turned into a slaughterhouse, officials said.
Cops discovered Benny Birchfield, the 79-year-old husband of the legendary country crooner, with puncture wounds to his body in the front yard, police said. Birchfield allegedly told cops that he had been “stabbed.”
Officers then found the butchered body of Shepard’s 18-year-old granddaughter, Icie Hawkins, inside the home along with a friend, Travis Sanders, 21, who had been fatally shot.
Police told News 2, a local TV station, that Hawkins lived with her grandfather and she and Sanders knew each other.
Investigators stopped short of releasing a motive, but said the attack was “isolated incident” and the community was not in any danger.
News 2 interviewed neighbor Michael Gay who called Birchfield “a great guy.”
“He kind of told me a little about himself, but mainly the past couple months, since his wife passed, we tried to do what we could to help with food or whatever to let him know we are here to help,” Gay told the station.
Jean Shepard, who died in September at the age of 82 from Parkinson’s disease, was considered a pioneer for women in country music, releasing 70 singles during her illustrious career.
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