A suspect was arrested today in the shooting deaths of a woman and three teenagers whose bodies were found in a car in a former mountain resort in eastern Tennessee. State Bureau of Investigation chief Mark Gwyn said at a press conference in Crossville that Jacob Allen Bennett, 26, was arrested on a parole violation the night after the four bodies were found on Renegade Mountain. Bennett was being held at Cumberland County jail while prosecutors prepared to call a grand jury to evaluate charges.
A car containing the bodies was discovered by a resident of the community about 50 miles west of Knoxville yesterday morning. The victims were identified as driver Danielle Jacobson, 22, and passengers Steven Presley, 17, Dominic Davis, 17, and John Lajeunesse, 16. Deputy District Attorney General Gary McKenzie said the suspect and the victims knew each other "to some degree," but declined to elaborate on a possible motive. Bennett was sentenced to two years in prison in 2010 after pleading guilty to theft-related charges and of being a convicted violent felon in possession of a firearm. (More Tennessee stories.)