| A key event in asolving the nearly 30-year-old cold crime murder of Calhouner Gene Stump, was the exhuming of his remains in Calhoun, September, 2009.
By Bob Weaver Jan. 2010
A Tennessee man has been sentenced for the 1982 murder of Calhoun native Errastus Gene Stump (shown left).
A Circuit Court jury of nine women and three men convicted Mac Ray McFarlane, 50, of Bristol for the premeditated first-degree murder and second-degree murder of Stump.
McFarlane, who was described as "pure evil," was sentenced to life in prison.
Tennessee officials came to Calhoun's Clayton Stump Cemetery in September, 2009, exhuming Stump's body for fornesic evaluation that was not done at the time his body was discovered.
"The extraction of DNA is to prevent any post-conviction appeals based on identity," according to Detective Sgt. Dan Goodwin of the Cold Case Unit of the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office, who was among a party of Tennessee officials that came to Calhoun.
The Murfreesboro Post reported, "Steve Stump waited 28 years for justice for his brother Gene's murder in 1982."
The victim was the son of Loren G. and Katherine Rogers Stump of Stumptown.
The paper reported McFarlane showed no emotion when he heard the verdict.
Stump's decomposed and headless body was found in April 1982 after he disappeared a month earlier.
During the trial, Dr. William Bass recreated Stump's skull and showed jurors a bullet hole in his skull, from evidence discovered from his exhumed remains.
The Calhoun native had moved to Tennessee to find work, living for a time with his brother.
For 28 years, Steve Stump put information together about his brother's death, wondering how McFarlane received his brother's income tax check and cashed it.
McFarlane's former wife, Donna Burroughs, and two other ex-wives testified against him.
McFarlane, who had changed his name, had an extensive criminal history.
His defense attornies have said they will be requesting a new trial.
Read more murfreesboropost.com
See related Hur Herald stories
FORMER CALHOUN MAN'S ALLEGED KILLER CHARGED AFTER 26 YEARS
CALHOUN MAN'S BODY WILL BE EXHUMED FOR AUTOPSY - Tennessee Officials Investigating Murder Of Errastus Gene Stump
UPDATE: CALHOUN MAN'S BODY WILL BE EXHUMED IN MURDER INVESTIGATION
CALHOUN BODY EXHUMED FOR AUTOPSY - Errastus Gene Stump Murdered In 1982
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