April 5, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
Three suspected drug dealers have been indicted by the DeKalb County Grand Jury for 2nd degree murder in the 2021 death of a man believed to have overdosed on Fentanyl.
62-year-old Tommye Lou Bell of Hawkins Drive, 48-year-old Sharon Joyce Malone of Fisher Avenue, and 45-year-old Vanessa Louise Lance of Hayes Street were named as co-defendants in sealed indictments returned by the grand jury on Monday, April 3 charged with 2nd degree murder and possession of schedule II drugs (Fentanyl & Cocaine) with intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver (2 counts). The three are being held without bond in the murder case. Bond for each is set at $75,000 in the drug cases.
The indictment against the three alleges that between the dates of December 13-16, 2021, Bell, Lance, and Malone did unlawfully and recklessly kill 64-year-old Stephen Wayne Mullican of Old Snows Hill Road, Dowelltown by the unlawful distribution, delivery, or dispensation of Fentanyl, Acetyl Fentanyl, Cocaine, and Ethanol and that these drugs were the proximate cause of Mullican’s death. Mullican was reportedly Lance’s father.
Bell is also indicted for unlawfully selling the schedule II drugs Fentanyl and Cocaine between the dates of December 13-16, 2021.
Malone and Lance are co-indicted for unlawfully delivering the schedule II drugs Fentanyl and Cocaine between December 13-16, 2021.
The three women will be arraigned in DeKalb County Criminal Court on Monday, April 10.
The cases were investigated by DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department Detectives and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.