BIG SANDY – A joint investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Benton County Sheriff’s Office has resulted in the indictment of a Benton County man following his girlfriend’s suicide.

On November 26, 2019, at the request of 24^th District Attorney General Matt Stowe, TBI Special Agents joined the Benton County Sheriff’s Office in investigating the death of Melanie Herndon.  Herndon was found deceased inside her residence in the 4700 block of Point Mason Road in Big Sandy. 

Investigators were first alerted to Herndon’s death by a call from her boyfriend’s father who lives in Los Angeles, California.  Jimmy Beck Jr. told his father that Herndon had committed suicide that morning.  He then flew to California and relayed the story to his father, who called the Benton County Sheriff’s Office.  Jimmy Beck Jr. has never contacted authorities to personally report the incident or give an account of what he witnessed. An autopsy determined Herndon died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

On October 19^th, the Benton County Grand Jury returned indictments charging Jimmy Beck Jr. (DOB: 1/5/75) with one count of Failure to Report a Death Under Suspicious, Unusual or Unnatural Circumstances and one count of Tampering with or Fabricating Evidence.  Today, Jimmy Beck Jr. returned to Benton County from California, was arrested, and booked into the Benton County Jail on $5,000 bond.