James Travis Murks Left Her Lying Dead In A Ditch

Shortly after we published yesterday, we received a communication from a regular reader. Her cousin had been found lying dead in a ditch just across the Tennessee state line. Our blog had just advised women to leave their abusive boyfriends; no, we don't have too much hope that this advice will fall on receptive ears, but if it helps just one...

Kimberly Johnson was 36 (We are using the name she used on Facebook). The Killen resident was a Bradshaw High grad and had two sons...and a psychopathic boyfriend. James Travis Murks is a long time Lexington resident who is now residing in the Loretto, Tennessee, area. Murks is no stranger to law enforcement.

In August 2013, Murks and his then girlfriend Jennifer Rhodes were arrested in a Lawrenceburg motel room with more drugs than a pharmacy. One month later, Murks presented at the ECM emergency room with several gunshot wounds. He told authorities that he and an unidentified woman had been attacked while changing a tire between Anderson and Grassy just outside Lexington. No one was ever arrested in the shooting, and authorities doubted Murks' account of the altercation.

Now James Travis Murks has run down his current girlfriend, leaving her to die in a ditch. According to Johnson's Facebook page, she divorced her husband in August 2014. By October she was in a new relationship; whether with Murks or someone else we don't know. We do know that the pair quarreled yesterday morning and he allegedly struck her with his Chevrolet S-10 pickup. Investigators stated both the front end of the truck and the windshield suffered extensive damage. In other words he didn't exactly slow down before he hit her.

Lawrence County, Tennessee, is holding Murks without bond. The charge of First Degree Murder in Tennessee can bring the death penalty. Too bad the executioner won't be using a monster truck...



Shoalanda