Jackson police arrest siblings in 2013 homicide
[gtxvideo vid=”UWrIm2l8″ playlist=”” pid=”OTSe9U1y” thumb=”http://player.gtxcel.com/thumbs/UWrIm2l8.jpg” vtitle=”Nachlinger Homicide Arrest 10pm”]
JACKSON, Tenn. — After an almost two-year investigation, charges are handed down in the death of a man found outside an east Jackson preschool. Investigators said DNA evidence led to the big break and the arrest of a brother and sister suspected all along. William Joseph Nachlinger was found beaten to death in March 2013 sitting in a car in the back parking lot of Whitehall Pre-K. Now, investigators at the Jackson Police Department said his girlfriend and her brother were the ones behind it all. “He had been beaten to death,” Capt. Tyreece Miller with the Jackson Police Department said. “He had severe injuries mostly to his head but all over his body.” The gruesome murder is now solved. “Over that two-year period, we’ve been chipping away at it just trying to shore up the case,” Miller said. Brett and Meghan Atchison were charged by Jackson police Monday in the 2013 death of Nachlinger. Meghan, who was Nachlinger’s girlfriend, is charged with filing a false report, and her brother, Brett, is charged with first-degree murder. “Forensic evidence linked Mr. Atchison to the crime,” Miller said. “So that further substantiated that he was a suspect.” Nachlinger’s body was found at Whitehall Pre-K in east Jackson, and investigators believe the killer chose this location for a reason. “Most would think that maybe someone in that area of town committed the crime,” Miller said. “So I think that there was dual purposes in leaving the body where they left it.” Convinced the murder took place somewhere else, investigators said they searched the Atchison home in Beech Bluff soon after the homicide. “We felt our crime scene could be in that area,” Miller said. “So that was the main focus of the investigation, to collect and search for evidence.” Investigators have not said if they found a crime scene or exactly why it took almost two years for the evidence to come together, but residents said they are happy someone was finally brought to justice. “Their family got justice, but there’s a lot more families out there that need justice too,” resident Dinnaric Woods said. “But it’s good these people are off the streets.” Investigators said Meghan Atchison misled them during questioning back in 2013. Phone records also show Nachlinger was in the area of the Atchison home just hours before investigators said his body was placed at Whitehall Pre-K. Meghan Atchison is currently free on bond while Brett Atchison is being held without bond. Their preliminary hearing is set for Feb. 19.
