4 charged in 2013 homicide in Decatur County

DECATURVILLE, Tenn. — More than six years after John Wesley Conway was found dead at a Decaturville home, four men have been charged with his death.

According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, agents and officers in two states served arrest warrants to four men in connection with Conway’s death. One of those men had previously been indicted, but the charges had been dropped.

The TBI says the indictments were returned in May 2019, but the case has been sealed until now due to the “highly sensitive and complex nature of the investigation.”

Conway, 28, was found dead from an apparent gunshot wound in the 2200 block of Mount Lebanon Road in Decaturville on Nov. 9, 2013, according to the TBI.

Former District Attorney Hansel McAdams requested the TBI’s assistance at the time, leading to the arrest and indictment of Dustin “Dusty” Lovelace, but those charges were dismissed in 2016.

The TBI says William Crawley, 27, Mickey “Earl” Harris, 61, Lovelace, 45, and Franklin Shane Rushing, 50, were served with arrest warrants on Thursday.

They are each charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and especially aggravated robbery.

Crawley, Harris and Lovelace were taken into custody and booked into the Decatur County Jail.

Rushing is currently in custody in Mississippi on unrelated federal drug charges, but will be brought back to Decatur County at a later date to be formally arraigned.

Crawley, Harris and Lovelace are currently held without bond.