March 21, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
More clues have surfaced in the investigation of a human skull found earlier this month near Center Hill Lake.
The skull was found on Thursday, March 9 only 1.6 (aerial) miles from where Matthew Wayne Braswell was last seen on December 17, 2021 after he fled on foot from the scene of a crash on Ponder Road off Cookeville Highway. He was age 29 at the time. While he can’t yet confirm that the skull is the remains of Braswell, Sheriff Patrick Ray said an anthropologist has said that it appears to be that of a male
“My Chief Deputy, Detectives and myself went to the area of where the skull was found on Wednesday March 15. We did a visual look around the area and found a shoe, a sock, and a bone. The sock and shoe were consistent with the clothing Braswell was wearing. The bone could not be determined by a picture that was sent to the anthropologist to determine if it was human or animal. Looking at the picture that was sent of the skull, the anthropologist thought the skull was of a male. The terrain is very steep and has a lot of undergrowth and deep leaves. A team from the Office of Anthropologist and law enforcement officers will look at the scene at a later date to try to find more remains. The identity of the skull has not been determined,” said Sheriff Ray in a statement released Monday afternoon.
Last year The Cookeville Police Department issued a missing person report on a woman, 43-year-old Kathy Ann Spradlin who was last seen leaving the area of Ponder Road in DeKalb County on January 2, 2022. Investigators believe the Braswell and Spradlin cases are unrelated.
“Concerning Kathy Ann Spradlin, she is missing out of Cookeville. She was seen leaving the area of Ponder Road on January 2, 2022. Spradlin voluntarily left in a black SUV. She supposedly took her clothes, personal items and her dog. The assistant district attorney general was contacted and the missing person report was made in Cookeville. As far as we know, no one has heard from her since. The Cookeville City Police Department is working the case,” said Sheriff Ray.
Spradlin has brown hair, hazel eyes. She is 5 feet, six inches tall and weighs 105 pounds. Spradlin had a cross tattoo on her left arm, a lower back tattoo, and a vine with stars tattoo on her calf with an eyebrow piercing.
If you have information as to her whereabouts call the Cookeville Police Department at 931-526-2126.