David Riemens' remains found in 2018 after disappearance. But Watertown case a mystery
Remains of the popular stone mason, artist and Hobbit house builder David Riemens who lived off the grid were found in 2018, but the case is still unsolved.
David Riemens lived off the grid in a treehouse for years in the Watertown area, but he wasn't a recluse.
Known around town as a talented artist, stone mason and Hobbit house builder, Riemens often visited the library and local merchants, friends Laura and Donny Nuessle said.
The 60-year-old was reported missing on Aug. 8, 2012. And while Riemens had a transient lifestyle and was planning a trip to visit family in Michigan just before his disappearance, finding his truck at a nearby store quickly cast suspicion.
"You start to think the worst,' then Wilson County Sheriff Terry Ashe said.
In January 2018, a human skull was found off Taylor Road near Sparta Pike close to Watertown. That led to more human remains, later determined to belong to Riemens.
Investigators have spoken with several people, though Wilson County Sheriff's Office Det. Major B.J. Stafford said, 'I would not classify anyone interviewed as a person of interest.'
Solving the case 'would mean so much to Donny and I and so many friends here in Watertown,' Laura Nuessle said.
Stafford still encourages anyone with information to submit a lead or information by visiting the Wilson County Sheriff's Office website and clicking on 'Crime Stoppers Tip.'
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Wilson County's David Riemens missing in 2012, remains later found
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Byron Black is being executed despite intellectual disabilities and a heart device that attorneys said could cause complications. Black is being executed for killing his girlfriend and her daughters As Angela Clay and her two young daughters slept in their Nashville home, a killer approached. They didn't stand a chance. Clay and her eldest daughter, 9-year-old Latoya, were found shot dead in bed. Clay's other girl, 6-year-old Lakeisha, was found on the floor in another bedroom, killed while apparently trying to escape. Now, 37 years later, Tennessee is set to execute the man convicted of killing them: Clay's boyfriend, Byron Black. If the execution moves forward on Tuesday, Aug. 5, Black will become the 28th inmate put to death in the United States this year, a 10-year high, with at least nine more executions scheduled. 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Black's execution by lethal injection is set for 10 a.m. CT on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. What was Byron Black convicted of? Black was convicted of fatally shooting his girlfriend, Angela Clay, and her two daughters: 9-year-old Latoya and 6-year-old Lakeisha. They were murdered on March 27, 1988. At the time of the murders, Black had been on work release from prison for shooting Clay's estranged husband and her daughter's father, Bennie Clay, in 1986. Prosecutors told jurors at trial that Black killed Angela Clay because he was jealous of her ongoing relationship with her ex. Investigators believe that Angela Clay and Latoya were shot as they slept, while Lakeisha appeared to have tried to escape after being wounded in the chest and pelvis. Bennie Clay has previously told The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network, that he believes Black killed the girls to spite him. "My kids, they were babies," he told the paper. "They were smart, they were gonna be something. They never got the chance." More recently, Bennie Clay, 68, told The Tennessean that he planned to attend the execution, though he said he has forgiven Black. 'God has a plan for everything,' he told the paper. 'He had a plan when he took my girls. He needed them more than I did, I guess.' Judge ordered Byron Black's heart device removed before execution On July 22, a judge ordered that a heart device implanted in Black needed to be removed at a hospital the morning of his execution, a development that appeared to complicate matters as a Nashville hospital declined to participate. But the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned the judge's order, and the U.S. Supreme Court backed that up, clearing the way for Black to be executed despite the heart device. His attorneys argue that the device, designed to revive the heart, could lead to "a prolonged and torturous execution." "It's horrifying to think about this frail old man being shocked over and over as the device attempts to restore his heart's rhythm even as the State works to kill him," Henry said in a statement. The state is arguing that Black's heart device will not cause him pain. Byron Black's attorneys call on the governor for help With their arguments over Byron's heart device at the end of the legal road, Black's attorneys are re-focusing their attention on his intellectual disabilities, and calling on Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to stop the execution and prevent "a grotesque spectacle." Citing Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and exposure to toxic lead, his attorneys said his mental impairments meant Black always had to live with and rely on family. Even now on death row, his attorneys said that other inmates "do his everyday tasks for him, including cleaning his cell, doing his laundry, and microwaving his food." "If ever a case called for the Governor to grant clemency or, at the very least, a reprieve, it is this one," Henry said in a statement. The director of Tennessee Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty said that she supports accountability for people who commit heinous crimes, but "the law is clear that we do not execute people with intellectual disability." "Governor Lee can insist on accountability while ensuring that the law is also followed. A situation such as this is exactly why governors have clemency power," Jasmine Woodson said in a statement. "Mr. Black has spent over three decades in prison for this crime and will never be released. As a conservative, I believe that he should remain behind bars, but he should not be executed." Lee's office has not responded to USA TODAY's requests for comment. In his statement to USA TODAY, Skrmetti pushed back at findings that he's intellectually disabled and said that "over the decades, courts have uniformly denied Black's eleven distinct attempts to overturn his murder convictions and death sentence." Angela Clay's family seeks justice Earlier this year, Angela Clay's sister told The Tennessean that she and her family were frustrated with years of delays, court hearings, and uncertainty. "It's been decades and nothing has happened," she said. "He needs to pay for what he did." Angela Clay's mother, Marie Bell, told The Tennessean that she had been waiting far too long for justice. "I'm 88 years old and I just want to see it before I leave this Earth," she said. Contributing: Kelly Puente, The Tennessean Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat.
