Granddaughter of Country Star Jean Shepard Murdered, Singer’s Husband Shoots Attacker: Report
The husband of late country star Jean Shepard was injured in an attack which left two others — including Shepard’s granddaughter — dead on Saturday in Hendersonville, Tennessee, according to reports.
Per The Tennessean, Sgt. Jim Vaughn of the Hendersonville Police Department said that police received a phone call about a stabbing at a home on the 200 block of Elnora Court around 3 a.m.
When police arrived, a 79-year-old man was in the front yard and was wounded, Vaughn said. According to authorities, the man stated he had been stabbed. Vaughn declined to reveal the name of the man. However, The Tennessean reports that records show the address matches the home of Shepard’s husband, Benny Birchfield, 79, as well as Shepard’s former residence.
Inside the house, police found 21-year-old Travis Sanders, who was pronounced dead at the scene. He died from a .38 caliber gunshot wound. Police also found Birchfield’s 18-year-old granddaughter, Icie Hawkins. Hawkins, who was stabbed, was transported to a hospital where she was later pronounced dead, police said.
Source: Icie Hawkins/Instagram
Hawkins’ mother, Velvet Sloan, told The Tennessean that her daughter dated Sanders earlier this year, but broke up with him after she caught Sanders stealing money from her. Sloan said Birchfield found Sanders and Hawkins fighting and that’s when Sanders stabbed Birchfield.
Sloan told the paper Birchfield then went to retrieve his gun, returned and shot Sanders.
After moving in to help care for her grandmother, who had Parkinson’s disease, Sloan says Hawkins continued to live at the house following Shepard’s death in September, assisting her grandfather with household tasks.
The Tennessean reports that police are not searching for a suspect. Officers interviewed the man, and based on his account, along with the conditions at the crime scene, they are satisfied that “the situation was contained at the house,” said Vaughn.
Police say Birchfield was released from the hospital Monday, and have yet to confirm whether charges will be sought. “We are collecting more information as we go,” Detective Sgt. Jim Vaughn told The Tennesseean. “We pretty much have the who, what, when and where, but we don’t have the why.”
