Investigators say a domestic dispute ended with a fatal shooting, a missing-person report and a body found on private property north of Cookeville.

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. — A 57-year-old Putnam County woman is accused of fatally shooting Samantha Goolsby during an argument, leaving her body for more than a day and then moving it to a wooded area on someone else’s property, according to investigators.

Authorities say the case moved quickly from a missing-person report into a homicide investigation on March 26, when deputies were first told Goolsby had not come home and then, hours later, were called to Phy Road after a homeowner found a partially concealed body in the wood line. Lora Morgan was later jailed on charges of first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence, and investigators say the case remains active.

According to investigators, the fatal encounter began Tuesday morning, March 24, at a home in Cookeville where Goolsby and Morgan were together. Authorities have said the two women were involved in a domestic dispute, but they have not publicly explained the source of the argument or described their relationship in detail. Court records cited by local television station WSMV say Goolsby was trying to leave when she was shot. By the next day, concern had shifted beyond the home. Around noon Wednesday, March 26, a family member reported Goolsby missing after she did not return home the night before. Hours later, the investigation took another turn when deputies were sent to Phy Road, north of Cookeville, after a property owner reported finding a body hidden in the tree line.

Deputies who responded said the remains matched Goolsby’s description, and Sheriff Eddie Farris later said investigators learned the killing had grown out of the dispute the day before. “Out of the domestic and whatever disagreement they had, Lora ended up shooting and killing Samantha Goolsby,” Farris said in local media remarks. He added that Morgan confessed to investigators. Authorities have said Morgan admitted not only to the shooting but also to moving the body after leaving it at the original scene for more than 24 hours. An affidavit described in local reports also says Morgan told investigators she used wipes to clean the scene on Wednesday. Officials have not publicly said how far the body was moved, what weapon was used, or whether anyone else was present when the shooting happened.

The known facts leave several parts of the case unsettled, even as the broad outline is now public. Investigators have identified Morgan as 57, but reports have conflicted or remained unclear on Goolsby’s age. Law enforcement has said only that the women were involved in a domestic dispute and has declined to release more information about their relationship while the investigation continues. The body was found on Phy Road, just north of Cookeville, a city in central Tennessee about 80 miles east of Nashville. In practical terms, that meant the case unfolded across at least two locations: the home where detectives say the shooting happened and the separate property where the body was discovered. That split now appears central to the evidence in the charges involving abuse of a corpse and tampering.

Morgan was taken into custody Wednesday night at about 8:30 p.m., according to authorities. She was booked into the Putnam County Jail, where officials said her bond was set at $820,000. The charges listed against her are first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and fabricating or tampering with evidence. A court appearance was scheduled for April 20. In Tennessee, first-degree murder cases can move through multiple stages before trial, including an initial appearance, appointment or retention of counsel, preliminary proceedings in lower court and possible grand jury action. As of the latest public updates, investigators had not announced any additional charges, had not released a probable-cause narrative beyond what local outlets reported from the affidavit, and had not said whether forensic testing was still pending.

The discovery on private property gave the case its most striking detail and helped turn a family’s concern into an arrest within hours. Farris said the property owner “played a huge role” in the investigation by reporting what had been found in the woods. That account, together with the missing-person report and what investigators described as Morgan’s confession, gave deputies a rapid chain of events from Tuesday morning to Wednesday evening. Officials have said little about Goolsby beyond identifying her as the victim, and no public statement from relatives was included in the initial law enforcement accounts. Even so, the sequence described by deputies showed how a quiet rural property north of Cookeville became a key crime scene in a case that now centers on what happened inside a home one day earlier.

As of now, Morgan remains charged and jailed, the investigation is still open, and the next public milestone is her scheduled April 20 court appearance in Putnam County.

Author note: Last updated April 18, 2026.