Man charged with murder following 2022 overdose death in Cheatham County
On Dec. 17, 2022, the Cheatham County Sheriff's Office received a call about an unresponsive man. Authorities said he had died from an overdose caused by methamphetamine cut with fentanyl.
Detectives began collecting evidence and, over time, developed a suspect: Jerry Wayne Moore. However, finding enough evidence to charge Moore with murder would prove time-consuming
More than 900 days later, on Thursday, June 5, the suspect was indicted on second-degree murder charges.
According to Lt. Shannon Heflin with the Cheatham County Sheriff's Office, the Metro Nashville Police Department's Violent Crimes Division convinced Moore to surrender on what he believed was a failure to appear warrant.
Body camera footage shows the 36-year-old after he arrived at the jail, where he learned he was in much bigger trouble.
VIDEO: MNPD releases bodycam footage from deadly officer-involved shooting in downtown Nashville
'I don't get where it's from or who it's from. I don't know what I did,' Moore told deputies, adding that he doesn't even come to Cheatham County.
'Here it just says second-degree murder times two,' a deputy said. 'It don't tell me exact details on the warrant.'
According to investigators, Moore supplied meth laced with fentanyl to the Cheatham County man who overdosed and died in December 2022.
'We did discover drugs on the scene that was hidden under a bathroom trash can,' Heflin said.
The lieutenant reported the victim's girlfriend also overdosed from the same batch of drugs, but she was saved with Narcan and CPR.
Authorities said the woman helped them turn up the investigative heat on Moore.
According to Heflin, developing these cases typically takes a lot of time that includes forensics and lab analysis: 'Some of our most important evidence usually comes from pulling information off of cell phones or any other electronic devices.'
Heflin said 2022 was the worst year for Cheatham County, which had 26 heroin and fentanyl fatalities, so law enforcement took an aggressive approach in trying to track down the dealers selling drugs to people that were resulting in deaths.
The lieutenant said his investigators kept this case alive for almost three years for the victim's family: 'We also feel that we've got to get the family some closure, we've got to get them some answers, so it's important to us that we give them that closure and hold somebody accountable, and especially a drug dealer who's selling fentanyl because they know, these drug dealers know that what they're selling could potentially kill somebody.'
News 2's Andy Cordan asked Heflin how the victim's family responded when they learned of the arrest.
'They were elated. They were happy. They thanked us for staying with the case. Hopefully we'll get their son some justice,' Heflin replied.
Moore is being held in the Cheatham County Jail on an $80,000 bond, charged with second-degree murder.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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