Hartselle man charged with murder
By Staff
A Hartselle man is charged with murder in connection with the death of a man whose body was found May 14 in Oden Ridge.
Zachary Lee Bell, 21, is charged in connection with the May 13 death of Phillip Don Pike, 44. Pike’s body was found on the roadside near his home in the Oden Ridge area on Gandys Cove Road by an Alabama State Trooper who was responding to a nearby accident.
Investigators questioned several people who had been with Pike near the time of his death and suspected Ball and Donald Van Chappell, 36, of beating the man to death.
Pike’s autopsy showed he died of blunt force trauma to the head.
Chappell, who is charged with manslaughter, is being sought by police. Bell is being held in the Morgan County Jail on no bond.