In a tragic turn of events, 23-year-old Billy “BJ” Pace Jr., a White male from Clarksville, Tennessee, was found deceased on December 21, 2016. His father had reported him missing three days earlier after being unable to get in touch with him. The grim discovery was made in a wooded area on Ross Lane, where Pace's body had been concealed with leaves and branches. An autopsy later confirmed that he had been shot twice in the head, and his death was ruled a homicide.
The investigation into Pace's death led to the arrests of two individuals: his 36-year-old girlfriend, Jessica Lynn Summer Simo, and 17-year-old Kristopher Michael Martin, who was the boyfriend of Simo's daughter. It was revealed that Simo had been deceiving Pace by telling him she had terminal cancer. Believing he was helping her move to Virginia for end-of-life care, Pace was instead lured into a deadly trap. The weapon used in the murder, a Colt 1911, belonged to Simo.
Kristopher Michael Martin, though a minor at the time of the crime, was charged as an adult. In September 2019, a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder, and he was subsequently sentenced to 20 years in prison. In August 2020, Jessica Lynn Summer Simo pleaded guilty to facilitation of second-degree murder. As part of a plea agreement, she received a 10-year prison sentence. While the motive for the murder was not definitively stated, the betrayal by his girlfriend, whom he believed he was lovingly supporting, was a central and tragic element of the case.
