Cold case heats up
By Staff
Caretaker, friend charged with murder of Ronnie Lee Goree
Clif Knight, Hartselle Enquirer
Morgan County Sheriff's investigators, with the help of the FBI and U.S. Treasury Department, think they've solved a six-year-old crime involving the disappearance of Ronnie Lee Goree of Somerville.
Goree's caretaker and cousin Geneva Lenox Denson, 43, of 1853 Cain Road, Somerville, and a friend, Martha Routh, 44, of 204 Green Street, Huntsville, were arrested by sheriff's deputies early Thursday and later charged with his murder. Each was placed under a $200,000 bond on Friday.
The pair allegedly strangled Goree in March 2001, buried his body in a cave nearby and returned later to dispose dispose of his bones.
They collected his bones from the grave, crushed them with a sledgehammer and dumped them into a creek in the same vicinity, Morgan County Sheriff Greg Bartlett said.
Goree was 29 when he died. He suffered from a mental defect and acute seizures. He would have been 32 when his mother, Eva Goree of Somerville, reported him missing in April 2004.
The mother told investigators she made repeated attempts to visit her son at his cousin's residence but was always turned away with an excuse of him not being at home. After more than three years of being unable to see him, she filed a missing person report with the sheriff's department. The report put a stop to his Social Security disability checks and brought the FBI and the Treasury Department into the investigation.
Bartlett explained Denson, as caregiver, had the authority to sign and cash Goree's checks, and allegedly continued to do that for about three years after his death.
Investigators treated the case as a missing person case for about a year. Then they received a phone call that prompted them to go back to the area where Goree had lived and take a look in a shallow cave about 400 to 500 yards from where he was last seen. They discovered some small bone fragments they suspected might be Goree's. The find turned the case into a homicide investigation.
"Luckily, they (the suspects) failed to recover all of the bones," Bartlett said.
The bones were sent to a FBI crime laboratory in Quantico, Va. where a DNA test confirmed they were Goree's.
During a traffic stop Thursday morning, Denson was taken into custody and others, including Routh, were brought in for questioning. By late afternoon both had been charged.
Bartlett commended investigators Kyle Wilson and Terry Kelly for their work on the case.
He said the investigation continues but no additional arrests are anticipated. The matter of the cashing of Goree's SS checks is under investigation by federal authorities.
A memorial service for Goree was held July 24 at 1 p.m. at Peck Funeral Home Chapel.
