Facebook De-Friending Leads To Murder Charge: Marvin Potter Allegedly Kills Billy Payne Jr. And Billie Jean Hayworth

MOUNTAIN CITY, Tenn. -- A father who was upset after a Tennessee couple deleted his adult daughter as a friend on Facebook has been charged in the shooting deaths of the couple, authorities said Wednesday.

The victims had complained to police that Marvin's Potter's daughter was harassing them after they deleted her as a friend on the social networking site, Johnson County Sheriff Mike Reece said Wednesday.

Potter, 60, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in last week's slayings of Billy Payne Jr. and his girlfriend, Billie Jean Hayworth. The couple was shot to death in their Mountain City home in the far northeast corner of the state. Their 8-month-old baby was found unharmed in Hayworth's arms.

"It's a senseless thing," the sheriff said.

Authorities have been involved other cases where Potter's daughter, Jenelle Potter, believed she had been slighted by someone.

Marvin Potter's friend, Jamie Curd, has also been charged in the killings. Curd, 38, had romantic feelings for Jenelle Potter, 30, the sheriff said.

Potter and Curd were arraigned Wednesday. Potter asked for time to hire an attorney while Curd was assigned a public defender who did not immediately return a phone message.

Assistant District Attorney General Matthew Roark said Curd's initial bond was raised to $1.5 million while Roark agreed to put off a bond hearing for Potter until next week, when he is expected to have an attorney. Potter remains jailed on his initial $200,000 bond.

The victims lived with Billy Payne Sr., who was the last person to see them alive. He told detectives he saw Hayworth get up to feed the baby before he left for work at about 5:30 a.m. on Jan. 31.

The slayings were discovered about five hours later when a former neighbor stopped by to pick up mail the family would save for him.

The younger Payne was found in his bedroom, and Hayworth was found in the baby's room.

Comments

[alpacadaddy]

12:45 PM on 02/13/2012

all this over Facebook? , it's cannot be blamed on FB...it has be the fault of the blunt-skulls that can't control their twisted minds...jeez...that deserted tropical island is lookin' better and better!

[Kathy Bontempo]

01:00 AM on 02/27/2012

You Said It Better Than I could... Totally agreed...

[grimcity]

12:25 PM on 02/13/2012

Horrible tragedy. For real though, some people have a little trouble separating real life from the internet... I work online all day and goof off with it on my own time, and know a few in my field that do the same... but some cats take it to the next level where the two "worlds" are inseparable. Messed up.

[Iron100]

06:03 AM on 02/11/2012

dacebook sucks

[boban from serbia]

05:46 AM on 02/11/2012

Sick nation...!!!!

[auditor0007]

01:42 AM on 02/11/2012

Open and shut case; try him, convict him, hang him, and do it quickly in the town square for everyone to watch.

[barondarby]

11:50 PM on 02/10/2012

holy green insanity. what is wrong with people??

i'm so glad I deleted my facebook page.

[emthepoet]

09:31 PM on 02/10/2012

Reality check people. There are things worth living, dieing, and killing for. Facebook friending/defriending does not qualify.

[rtgmath]

08:51 PM on 02/10/2012

Wow. Murder because people defriended his daughter. Was it worth it? Poor girl, she was slighted. Those who hurt her feelings did not deserve to live!

Which begs the question. What gave them such a feeling of superiority that she could harass the ones who defriended her, and prompt the father to kill?

We are seeing a dramatic rise in the kind of attitudes that dehumanize others and make people to be disposable commodities.

But in large measure, I see little difference between this murder, and the actions of a certain leader of Bain who went in and acquired companies, raided the pensions, fired people wholesale, and destroyed companies for profit. He, too, regarded other lives as worthless and felt himself superior enough to destroy the future of others. He did not kill with a gun, but doubtless his actions led to premature deaths of others! The differences in attitude between Marvin Potter and this Bain Executive are not really that much different. And this attitude of disregard toward the rights and lives of others is becoming increasingly common among a certain sector of the electorate.

Potter just went a tad too far. Otherwise, his attitude toward the lives of others is that of a extremist conservative or a rich executive.

[auditor0007]

01:43 AM on 02/11/2012

We really need to think about cleaning up the gene pool.

[Beth Henke Campbell]

06:54 PM on 02/10/2012

"Authorities have been involved other cases where Potter's daughter, Jenelle Potter, believed she had been slighted by someone"

I wonder what else has happened.. sounds like evidence of something that should be prosecutable

[Mark Bannerman]

04:15 PM on 02/10/2012

What is it about America that provokes this so often? In Canada, we don't really have this problem. Shooting other people just doesn't happen. We actually think many Americans are up-tight and angry. Seems lots of Americans take offense to the most petty things. I do not believe this is all Americans though. It cannot be what's on the television or the video games because we have the same stuff in Canada.

Can anyone shed light on this?

[KevinMcA]

05:03 PM on 02/10/2012

I think that the crowded state of many areas in the US promote a lot of tension. I'm not exactly sure if gun control or lack thereof has much of an effect, but i don´t think it does. I live in central NC and I, like you, couldn't imagine this happening to me or someone I know. I guess that the emergence of online socialization doesn't always allow people to think about what they say and do. Social networking has been blamed for a lot of things, i'm not sure how valid it is.

[whoknew222]

03:36 AM on 02/12/2012

I think it's the crowding also.

[Cindy Russell444]

11:34 PM on 02/10/2012

It's really because we have a crappy president.

[92102]

07:11 AM on 02/11/2012

The crappy one has been out of office a few years and is back on the ranch in Texas.

[geddy lee is a god]

01:55 PM on 02/10/2012

I know this isn't Facebook, but for the 89 people who have Fanned me, just know that I will not remove you guys.

We cool?

[CJRobb]

06:09 AM on 02/16/2012

Fanned - We cool even if ya do "un-fan" me! Seriously, it seems like Jenelle (30 years old!!) had some other instance(s) where she felt slighted and the authorities are involved. How this reached a point where the father felt he had to kill this couple is unbelievable!

[AdelaideDweller]

11:52 AM on 02/10/2012

Welcome to America!

[gurukalehuru]

11:03 AM on 02/10/2012

I have dropped people from facebook just because they were uninteresting. My guess is that Jenelle Potter was worse than just uninteresting.

[lmayj]

10:18 AM on 02/10/2012

what a bunch of freaks

[sis14slf]

09:51 AM on 02/10/2012

damn talk about being sensitive. It's got to be more to this story. she was defriended because?......

[ngc891]

11:45 AM on 02/10/2012

Kept Harassing them! This apparently not the first to be Defriended.

[sis14slf]

12:29 PM on 02/10/2012

they sound like a bunch of bullies.