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Chattanooga: Man charged with murder in Friday shooting

By: Adam Crisp
(Contact)

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Janice Atkinson

An on-again, off-again romance ended in deadly gunfire Friday morning, police believe.

Melissa F. Hoover, 31, of Harrison, was found shot to death in front of a friend’s home on Shorttail Springs Road near Harrison Bay, said Janice Atkinson, a Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman.

A short time later, deputies arrested Malcom Witherow, 57, and charged him with first-degree murder.

A friend inside the home at 7709 Shorttail Springs apparently witnessed the shooting and put law enforcement onto Mr. Witherow’s trail, Ms. Atkinson said.

“When deputies arrived they found Ms. Hoover’s body on the side of the road, on the shoulder, and she had been shot multiple times,” Ms. Atkinson said. “Apparently there were several witnesses.”

One of those witnesses is Connie Harrold, a friend with whom Ms. Hoover was staying. She said the 31-year-old was a mother of a 14-year-old boy, and though she had done time in jail on drug charges she had overcome addiction and was working full time, had a car and was trying to turn her life around.

At the time of her death, Ms. Harrold said, Ms. Hoover was split up with Mr. Witherow, though they both had been staying in the Shorttail Springs home.

“I’ve known him 20 years, and I’ve never known him to be violent like that,” Ms. Harrold said.

Jamie Harrold, who lives across the street, said Mr. Witherow chased the victim down the home’s driveway, firing at her all the way.

“He shot her three times in the back, three times in the front and once at close range,” Mr. Harrold said.

The shooting happened around 10 a.m., and it didn’t take long for authorities to track Mr. Witherow down. After the shooting, he apparently tried to check himself into Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute, they said.

He was being held without bond in the Hamilton County Jail on Friday evening, Ms. Atkinson said.

This wasn’t Mr. Witherow’s first run-in with law enforcement. Ms. Atkinson said the suspect’s Hamilton County criminal record shows 10 convictions for various crimes since 2004.

Mr. Harrold said the shooting has been a shock, even though the couple had a rocky relationship. Ms. Harrold said she will remember her friend as a hard-working woman who was kind and generous.

“She died right in my arms while I was trying to give her CPR,” Ms. Harrold said. “I haven’t ever seen anything like that before. ... She was a good person who would have done anything for anyone.”

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