Samantha Goolsby’s body was found on Phy Road hours after relatives reported she had not returned home, investigators say.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. — A missing-person report filed by Samantha Goolsby’s family on March 26 led Putnam County deputies to a body in a wooded area that afternoon and, by nightfall, to the arrest of 57-year-old Lora Morgan on murder and evidence-tampering charges.
The speed of the investigation has become one of the defining facts of the case. Deputies were told around noon Wednesday that Goolsby had not come home the previous night. At about 4:16 p.m., they were called again after a homeowner on Phy Road reported finding a partially concealed body in the wood line. By about 8:30 p.m., authorities had Morgan in custody, saying the case had shifted from a search for a missing woman to a homicide investigation anchored by a confession and physical evidence.
The public timeline released by the sheriff’s office starts not on the day of the discovery, but the day before. Investigators say a domestic dispute took place Tuesday morning, March 24, at a home in Cookeville. Authorities have not said what prompted the argument, but local reporting based on an affidavit says Goolsby was shot as she was trying to leave the residence. Investigators say Morgan then left the body at the home for more than 24 hours before moving it to a field or wooded area on another person’s property. That sequence matters because it connects the initial violence, the period when Goolsby could not be reached, and the later discovery by a homeowner who had no apparent role in the original dispute.
Officials have been direct about some parts of the case and notably cautious about others. The sheriff’s office identified Morgan as the suspect and said she is charged with first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and fabricating or tampering with evidence. Sheriff Eddie Farris said Morgan confessed to investigators. “Out of the domestic and whatever disagreement they had, Lora ended up shooting and killing Samantha Goolsby,” he said in comments carried by local media. At the same time, detectives have not publicly described the women’s relationship in detail, released the type of firearm used, or explained whether any surveillance, phone data or forensic testing helped confirm the timeline. They also have not publicly resolved conflicting or incomplete details about Goolsby’s age.
The setting of the discovery helps explain why the case drew immediate attention in Putnam County. Cookeville sits in central Tennessee, about 80 miles east of Nashville, and the body was found just north of the city on Phy Road, where a homeowner told deputies a body had been found partly hidden in the trees. In cases like this, the site where remains are discovered can become as important as the place where the killing allegedly occurred. Investigators now appear to be working across both scenes: the home where the argument and shooting allegedly took place, and the separate property where the body was recovered. Local reports say Morgan also admitted using wipes to clean the original scene, a detail that appears to support the tampering count.
Morgan was booked into the Putnam County Jail and held on an $820,000 bond, according to authorities. Her next scheduled public court date was listed as April 20. That hearing is expected to mark the next step in a case that is still at an early stage, with investigators saying only that the inquiry remains ongoing. In practical terms, that means the public record could still change as prosecutors review evidence, defense counsel appears in court and additional documents are filed. No plea or detailed defense response was included in the initial reports. No additional defendants have been named, and authorities have not indicated that anyone else is suspected of involvement.
The case also turned on ordinary decisions by people outside law enforcement. A relative noticed Goolsby had not returned home and reported her missing. A property owner called after finding a body in the woods. Farris publicly thanked the homeowner and said the public plays an important role in investigations. Those details do not answer the unresolved questions about motive or relationship, but they show how quickly the case moved once other people reported what they knew and what they saw. By the end of March 26, a case that had started as worry over a missing woman had become a homicide arrest with formal charges and a coming court date.
Authorities say Morgan remains jailed, the investigation is active, and the next key development is the April 20 court appearance in Putnam County.
Author note: Last updated April 18, 2026.