Prosecutors say the counts against Lora Morgan reflect not only a killing, but what investigators believe happened after it.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. — The charges filed against Lora Morgan in Putnam County describe a case that investigators say did not end with a fatal shooting, but continued through the movement of Samantha Goolsby’s body and an alleged attempt to clean up the scene.
Authorities have charged Morgan, 57, with first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and fabricating or tampering with evidence after Goolsby was reported missing and later found dead on private property north of Cookeville. Morgan was jailed on an $820,000 bond and was scheduled to appear in court on April 20. The case remains under investigation, but the counts themselves give the clearest public picture so far of what deputies believe happened between a domestic dispute on March 24 and Morgan’s arrest the next night.
The most serious accusation is first-degree murder, which investigators tied to a shooting they say happened Tuesday morning at a home in Cookeville. Authorities have said Goolsby and Morgan were arguing when the violence happened. Reporting based on an affidavit says Goolsby was shot as she was walking out the door to leave. That detail places the killing at the moment the encounter was breaking apart, not at the start of the argument. Officials have not publicly identified the weapon, explained whether there were prior calls involving the two women, or said how many times Goolsby was shot. They also have not publicly expanded on motive beyond describing the confrontation as a domestic dispute.
The two remaining charges focus on what investigators say happened after Goolsby was killed. Authorities say Morgan 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 on Phy Road. That allegation forms the basis of the abuse-of-a-corpse count and gives the case a second location beyond the home where the shooting allegedly happened. Detectives also say Morgan admitted using wipes to clean the scene on Wednesday, a claim that appears central to the tampering charge. In legal terms, the combination of those accusations suggests investigators are building a case not only around the killing itself, but around an effort to hide what had happened and interfere with the later investigation.
The record that brought those charges together moved fast. Around noon on Wednesday, March 26, a family member reported Goolsby missing after she did not return home the night before. At about 4:16 p.m., according to local reports citing the sheriff’s office, a homeowner on Phy Road called deputies after finding a partially concealed body in the wood line on the property. Deputies responded and said the body matched Goolsby’s description. Investigators then traced the events back to the domestic dispute the previous morning. Sheriff Eddie Farris said Morgan confessed. “Out of the domestic and whatever disagreement they had, Lora ended up shooting and killing Samantha Goolsby,” he said in local remarks about the case.
Even with an arrest and filed charges, major questions remain open. Authorities have not publicly detailed the women’s relationship, though they have used the phrase domestic dispute. They have not fully identified the evidence that supports the confession, such as forensic findings, witness statements, digital records or recovered items from the two scenes. They also have not explained why the body was moved to that particular property, whether Morgan knew the owner, or whether the body was transported by vehicle. Those unanswered points could become more important as the case moves beyond arrest paperwork and into courtroom proceedings, where probable cause is tested and the factual record becomes more detailed.
Cookeville, the Putnam County seat, is in central Tennessee about 80 miles east of Nashville, and cases there typically begin with a lower-court appearance before moving through longer felony procedures. Morgan was taken into custody at about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday and booked into the county jail. No plea was included in the initial public accounts, and no attorney’s response was immediately available in those reports. Prosecutors also had not announced whether they would seek additional counts. For now, the public case file is defined by the three existing charges, the sheriff’s account of a confession, and the sequence linking a reported argument, a missing-person complaint and a body found in the trees.
The next formal step is Morgan’s scheduled April 20 court appearance, where the charges and the status of the case are expected to come back into public view.
Author note: Last updated April 18, 2026.