Audio: Days before her death, Robertson deputy said ex showed up to house uninvited
Days before her death, Robertson County Sheriff's Office Deputy Savanna Puckett asked for an officer to come to her Springfield home because her ex-boyfriend had shown up uninvited.
"He was told to stay away from my house," Puckett says in the call to Robertson County Dispatch, recorded at 8:25 p.m. on Jan. 19. Robertson County E-911 Director Rachel Payne said the call was received on an administrative line, not via 911.
Four days later, Puckett, a four-year veteran of the Sheriff's Office, was found shot to death inside her burning home. She was 22.
Investigators have tied Puckett's ex-boyfriend, James Jackson Conn, 27, to the scene of her death through fingerprints obtained on lighter fluid bottles, according to affidavits filed in Robertson County General Sessions Court.
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Conn was arrested Jan. 24 after an hourslong standoff with authorities at his Odom Court home in Smyrna.
He has been charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated arson, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. He's being held without bond in the Robertson County jail and is due in court on Feb. 4.
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Deputy Savanna Puckett's call to dispatch days before her death
The transcription below has been edited for length and clarity.
"Robertson Central," a Robertson County dispatcher says at the beginning of the call.
"Hey ... I need an officer at my house," Puckett responds.
She verifies her address and name.
"I have an ex here that should not be here, an unwanted guest," Puckett says.
"What exactly has happened?" the dispatcher asks.
"He just pulled into my driveway," Puckett says.
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"County did a report for me last night because he was here and not supposed to be here, and he's just pulled into my driveway again," she says. "I'm not sure why (he's here). He's not invited. He was told to stay away from my house."
The call is about two-and-a-half minutes long and is spent mostly in silence. At times, Puckett can be heard breathing and sighing on the line.
No threats were made that night, and Conn did not appear to have any weapons at the time, Puckett says to the dispatcher before the call is terminated.
Katie Nixon can be reached at knixon@gannett.com or (615) 517-1285.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Deputy Savanna Puckett called authorities about ex days before death
