In the spring of 2017, the life of 20-year-old Tyler Wayne Stults was tragically cut short in a violent act of domestic violence. On the morning of April 11, Stults was seated in a car in the parking lot of the Ficosa auto parts plant in Cookeville, Tennessee, where he was employed. He was with a 35-year-old coworker, Rebecca Ann Louise Marion Crowley, when the peaceful setting was shattered by the sudden appearance of his ex-girlfriend.
Angelique Elizabeth Deplae, 30 years old, approached the vehicle and, without warning, opened the car door and began firing a revolver. Both Stults and Crowley were struck by the gunfire. After the initial assault, Deplae walked to the front of the car and took her own life. The motivation for the attack was determined to be related to her previous romantic relationship with Stults.
Emergency services were called to the scene just after 10:35 a.m.
Stults was critically injured and transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, where he succumbed to his wounds later that evening. Crowley, the other victim of the shooting, was hospitalized in Chattanooga and was reported to be in stable condition.
The investigation by the Cookeville Police Department concluded that the shooting was an isolated domestic violence incident. As the perpetrator, Angelique Elizabeth Deplae, died at the scene, no arrests were made in connection with the murder of Tyler Stults. Stults was a 2015 graduate of Cookeville High School and was remembered by his family and friends.
