In the early morning hours of May 15, 2021, the life of 40-year-old Amber N. Schwenk was tragically cut short in her Kingsport, Tennessee, home. Officers responded to a call at her residence on Bays View Court and discovered Schwenk deceased from an apparent gunshot wound. The investigation into the female's death quickly pointed to one individual: 36-year-old Zachery Felton, an acquaintance with whom she had been in a previous relationship.
Investigators determined that Felton had arrived at Schwenk's home under the pretense of retrieving some of his belongings. Just twenty minutes after he was let inside, witnesses reported hearing a gunshot from downstairs. Felton had fled the scene before police arrived, sparking a manhunt for the man authorities considered armed and dangerous. An affidavit later revealed a possible motive; Felton had recently been released from jail and had accused his ex-girlfriend of stealing over $30,000 in cash from him while he was incarcerated.
Felton’s flight from justice was aided by the removal of his court-mandated ankle monitor. He had been on pre-trial release for promoting prostitution charges and had removed the device shortly before the shooting. The disabled monitor was later discovered by detectives in the median of Interstate 26. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation added Felton to its 'Most Wanted' list, and a reward was offered for information leading to his capture. The search for Felton extended beyond state lines, as authorities had strong reason to believe he had fled Tennessee.
After weeks on the run, Zachery Felton was apprehended in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was subsequently jailed and awaited extradition back to Tennessee to face charges of first-degree murder, vandalism of a monitoring device, and vandalism. The Kingsport Police Department, with the assistance of the TBI, FBI, and the United States Marshals Service, brought an end to the search for the man responsible for the death of Amber N. Schwenk.
