In the small city of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, a young life was tragically cut short on a Tuesday night in December. Holley Ann Cullum, a 16-year-old female, was at an apartment building on Smith Avenue on December 5, 2017, when she sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the neck. Emergency services were called to the scene around 8:00 p.m., and Holley was found on the porch with the critical injury. She was rushed to Southern Tennessee Regional Healthcare Systems, but tragically, she succumbed to her injuries and passed away. At the time of her death, Holley was a student at Lawrence County High School.
The investigation into Holley's death quickly led to a suspect. Eighteen-year-old Kyle Daniel Welcher, an acquaintance of Holley, was identified as the individual responsible for the shooting. According to investigators, the incident was not born out of malice, but rather appeared to be a tragic accident that occurred while a group of young people were spending time together. Welcher fled the scene after the shooting but turned himself into the authorities approximately two hours later.
Kyle Daniel Welcher was arrested and initially charged with reckless homicide. As the investigation progressed, three additional charges of reckless endangerment were added, as there were other individuals present at the time of the shooting. Welcher was held at the Lawrence County Detention Center. In August 2018, he entered an open guilty plea in Lawrence County Circuit Court to all four charges against him: one count of reckless homicide and three counts of reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon. The plea bargain resulted in a sentencing hearing to determine his punishment, which could range from two to four years in prison for the reckless homicide charge, in addition to potential time for the endangerment charges.
