CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – A judge this week heard evidence in the Megan Raymond murder case, including from a key witness who said he helped Dennis Raymond move his wife’s body to a shallow grave in East Tennessee.
Megan Raymond had disappeared from her Culverson Court home on Feb. 27. Her husband Dennis said she had left, but on Feb. 28, her body was found in Scott County, Tennessee, and Dennis, 35, was charged with homicide, according to previous reports.
At the preliminary hearing on March 17, one witness told the court that he’d had a four-month “romantic” relationship with Megan and that they had been communicating every day, according to court records obtained by Clarksville Now. Those communications ended on the night of Feb. 26, which appears to be the night that Megan died.
Three-hour drive, mud on truck
Another witness, an old Army friend of Dennis, said Dennis called him in the middle of the night and asked him to come to Clarksville. The friend drove from Sunbright in Scott County to Clarksville – about a three-hour drive.
He said he then helped Dennis load Megan’s body into the back of Dennis’ pickup truck, and they drove back to Sunbright, where Dennis buried the body. He said Dennis told him Megan had been cheating on him, that she might be pregnant, and that he had strangled her.
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The court reviewed surveillance video from the night of Megan’s reported disappearance that showed Dennis and his friend leaving the house in the pickup truck early on the morning of Feb. 27 and Dennis returning several hours later with the back of the truck covered in mud.
Clarksville Police Detective Stephen Salazar said he went to Culverson Court on the afternoon of Feb. 27 in response to the disappearance. When he arrived, he saw Dennis leaving the house in a muddy pickup truck. Salazar followed Dennis to a car wash, where he saw Dennis washing the mud off of the truck.
The next day, CPD detectives received a phone call from the Scott County Sheriff’s Office about the friend’s tip and the discovery of the grave. A CPD detective went to the scene. A team of agents from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation exhumed the body and identified Megan. Later that day, Dennis Raymond was arrested and charged with criminal homicide.
| PREVIOUSLY: New details emerge in slaying of missing woman, found in shallow grave in East Tennessee
Bond amount quadrupled
At the preliminary hearing on Monday, prosecutors requested the full $500,000 bond, citing the need for community safety in a murder case. Dennis Raymond’s attorney Will Poland Jr. requested a reduced bond of $150,000, citing community ties and Dennis’ disabled veteran status.
Instead, Judge Sharon Grimes quadrupled the bond to $2 million, based on the “heinous” nature of the case. She bound the case over to the Montgomery County Grand Jury.
Megan Raymond leaves behind a daughter, and a donation page has been set up to help her. Click here for the GoFundMe page.
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