CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Over two months have passed since 20-year-old Justin Sawyer was last seen or heard from, but his family is now one step closer to finding out what happened: His body was found Tuesday afternoon in northeast Clarksville.
“I knew he was gone. I knew they had killed him, but I just needed them to find him so I could bring him home and lay him to rest,” Sawyer’s mother, Tracy Jackson, told Clarksville Now.
“I just needed some closure, I feel like I’ve been walking around like a pipe bomb just ready to explode,” she said.
Meanwhile, two of the men charged with involvement in the robbery and movement of Sawyer’s body pleaded not guilty in Christian County, Kentucky, court via Zoom Wednesday morning.
76 days have passed since Sawyer’s disappearance on Dec. 17, when he was suspected to have been killed as part of a robbery.
Discovery
On Tuesday, Clarksville Police responded to a scene on Kennedy Road after a 911 call at 3 p.m., according to Detective Michael Patterson and 911 records.
Sawyer was found near Spring Creek at the end of that road, sources told Clarksville Now.
Kennedy Road is just south of the Northeast High School campus, off Trenton Road.
Sawyer’s body was transported to the Medical Examiner’s Office in Nashville on Tuesday for identification and to determine the cause of death, Patterson said.
The positive ID was made on Wednesday with Sawyer’s dental records, which Jackson told Clarksville Now she submitted to the medical examiner for comparison.
His body appeared burned, and he still had on the red tennis shoes he was last seen wearing, according to Jackson.
December disappearance
The initial investigation into Sawyer’s disappearance revealed that he was shot during a Dec. 17 robbery.
Two of the three men arrested in Sawyer’s disappearance, Marquell Devont’e Sims, 22, of Oak Grove, and Gene “Doug” Henry, 36 of Oak Grove, appeared for their arraignment and entered not guilty pleas after the grand jury returned indictments last month.
Dawaun Davis, 20, of Clarksville did not appear in court. His attorney, Mark Gilbert, appeared on his behalf and waived his arraignment. Davis remains incarcerated at the Christian County Jail.
Davis and Sims are charged with robbery, kidnapping (with serious physical injury) and assault. Henry was charged with abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence.
All three will have another hearing in Christian County on April 28.
Both Henry and Sims were released from jail in January. Henry was released on his own recognizance, and Sims is wearing a GPS ankle monitor.
The remaining questions
The timeline of events after Sawyer went missing on Dec. 17, and after Jan. 5 when the Clarksville Police Department announced that Sawyer’s car had been recovered in Georgia, remains unclear. Records obtained by Clarksville Now from the District Court in Christian County reveal that Sawyer’s car was found in Cartersville, Georgia.
However, after receiving multiple tips from the public, on Dec. 24 CPD Detective Tanner Pew visited Davis’ father’s residence.
Henry’s lawyer, Michael Cotthoff of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, said in court Wednesday this was a “conflict case,” meaning there are issues of jurisdiction at play between Montgomery County and Christian County.
While the crimes that all three suspects are charged with in Christian County happened in Kentucky according to court records, and the body was found in Clarksville, it is still unknown where Sawyer was killed.
A candlelight vigil organized by Sawyer’s friends is still set to take place on March 13 at the Cumberland Riverwalk at 4 p.m.
Correction: Dawaun Davis’ first name was misspelled in an earlier version of this report. It has been updated.