ELIZABETHTON WOMAN, THREE OTHERS CHARGED IN DRUG DEATH

An Elizabethton woman has been charged with second-degree murder in last
year's drug-related death of 23-year-old James Aaron Cornett of
Elizabethton. Three others have been charged as accessories, Carter County
Sheriff John Henson said Wednesday. Around 5:30 a.m. March 21, deputies
responded to the home of Kathy Benfield, 45, 879 Blue Springs Road,
regarding a possible overdose.

When officers arrived, Carter County Rescue Squad members were performing
cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Cornett, who was unresponsive. Heather
Kropp, 22, same address, told officers that Cornett had called her the
previous evening and asked her to pick him up around 9:30 p.m. Kropp said
they went to her mother's residence at 879 Blue Springs Road, where Cornett
had a six-pack of beer. She said they started to the bedroom to watch
television around 12:30 a.m. and Cornett passed out in the hallway.

Kropp said they put him in the bed, where he began to snore loudly and
turned gray. They watched over him until he stopped breathing and then
called 911 around 5:25 a.m. Cornett was taken to Sycamore Shoals Hospital
where he was put on a respirator. Deputies gathered information from
witnesses at the scene, including Natasha Bowers, 22, 194 Roy Bowers Road,
who has been charged with second-degree murder; and Johnny Williams, 23,
1025 Bluefield Ave.; Kropp and Benfield, all of whom have been charged with
accessory after the fact. Later on the morning of March 21, Investigator
Audrey Covington called the witnesses in for questioning. All advised that
Cornett had been drinking but said they were unaware of what caused him to
collapse.

While statements were being taken, the sheriff's department was notified
that Cornett had died, and an autopsy was ordered.

Several months later, Dr. Gretel Harlan of Quillen College of Medicine told
investigators that preliminary autopsy results showed Cornett had oxycodone
in his system but said she still did not know the cause of death. In
January 2002, Dr. Harlan completed the autopsy and notified the sheriff's
department that Cornett's death resulted from respiratory suppression due
to toxic levels of oxycodone, a form of OxyContin used to manage moderate
to severe pain. Investigator Covington then brought all witnesses back in
for questioning. Each told the officer they had lied in March 2001 and
advised that Bowers sold Cornett two oxycodone tablets after which Bowers,
Williams, Kropp and Cornett went into the bathroom and injected the drug.
According to Investigator Covington, Bowers injected Cornett twice with a
needle filled with oxycodone.

Cornett collapsed after the second shot and was taken to a bedroom and
watched over until he quit breathing. Covington presented case information
Monday to the Carter County Grand Jury, which returned true bills charging
Bowers with second-degree murder, and Williams, Kropp and Benfield each
with accessory after the fact. Kropp was arrested Tuesday and was released
Wednesday on $10,000 bond. Benfield and Williams were arrested Wednesday
and later released on $10,000 bond each. Bowers, who also was arrested
Wednesday, is being held on $100,000 bond. All four are set to appear March
18 in Criminal Court.

Covington said the arrests were the result of a year-long investigation.
"Everybody in the investigation staff was involved. The only thing we were
waiting on was the autopsy report," she said.

After receipt of the final report, Covington said the sheriff instructed
investigators to talk to each individual again to try to get more
information. "That's when I went and brought everybody in and was able to
get confessions off of all four of them," she said.

"That's how we work in investigations. If it takes awhile, then it takes
awhile.

We still work hard on it and once we get solid evidence, like the autopsy
report in our hands, we go straight for it." Sheriff Henson said, "I would
like to thank my investigators for the tremendous work that they put in
this case. They did an outstanding job and I'm proud of them. "Hopefully,
this will send a message to people out here doing drugs and dealing in
drugs: If we can prove beyond reasonable doubt that a person has aided in
selling or giving a person drugs, and they overdose on these drugs and die
from it, they can be charged and will be charged. "We're not going to let
people get by with murder if there's any way we can prosecute them. And we
will prosecute to the fullest extent." Henson said Williams, Kropp and
Benfield delayed in seeking medical help for Cornett, resulting in them
being charged with accessory, the sheriff said. Bowers also has been
charged with aggravated burglary and theft over $500, according to Sgt.
George Skeans. "She, along with her brother, broke into a trailer on
Highway 91 and some firearms were taken." They were later recovered, Skeans
said. He subsequently took Charles Bowers to court. "He was trying to take
responsibility for all of it, but my witnesses gave me depositions and
statements that she had made to them about the theft of the firearms, so I
went ahead and took it to the grand jury (on Monday) and got a true bill,
and that was presented to her also."

Natasha Bowers and two accomplices previously were charged with breaking
into the home of the family of Criminal Court Judge Lynn Brown and taking
computer equipment and other items.