A vacation rental in the Smoky Mountains turned deadly when 28-year-old Tatina J. Buddington of Charlotte, North Carolina was found dead inside a cabin on Smoky Ridge Way on the morning of January 10, 2022. An autopsy confirmed she died of a gunshot wound. Sevier County deputies responded about 8:30 a.m. after a 911 call reporting a shooting and discovered her body inside the cabin.

Outside the cabin, investigators found Tatina’s 26-year-old boyfriend, Daekwon K. Dodd, also of Charlotte, on the ground below a third-story balcony; he had sustained serious injuries consistent with a fall and was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville. The Sevier County Sheriff’s Office and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation worked the case together.

Suspicion centered on Dodd. After his release from the hospital, evidence was presented to a Sevier County grand jury, which on March 9, 2022 returned an indictment charging him with second-degree murder and aggravated assault resulting in death; he was arrested in Charlotte by the U.S. Marshals Service and held in Mecklenburg County Jail pending extradition. Did anyone in the area see the couple at the rental or notice anything unusual that morning?