State plans 8.3 million dollar land buy

The state’s Board of Natural Resources plans to buy and protect more than 1,500 acres of land near Lookout Mountain. Members of the board approved a deal worth 8.3 million dollars in a unanimous vote Wednesday. It still needs to be approved by a pair of state agencies. The land in Walker County is popular with outdoor enthusiasts.

Georgia authorities to exhume 'cold-case' remains

Authorities are planning to exhume an unidentified body in Walker County, Georgia, this week to determine if it matches the DNA of a 19-year-old Ohio coll(ege student missing for nearly 55 years.

The Georgia sheriff's department reopened the case in January in hopes that new technology could solve the mystery of the remains found in the woods in 1953 and later buried in the city of LaFayette's cemetery. The remains turned up about a month after the disappearance of Ronald Tammen, a student at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, last seen in his dorm room.

The exhumation will be done Friday. Authorities from Georgia and Ohio are expected to attend.

The DNA extracted from the remains will be compared to Tammens' siblings.

(The Associated Press)

City building arson charges for two Walker Co teens

Two teenage boys will be in Walker County juvenile court tomorrow for a hearing concerning the burning of a building in LaFayette that contained city records. A state insurance and fire official estimates that 500-thousand dollars of damage was done to the building in northwest Georgia that had mainly water and sewer department work order records for the city. A city official says customer accounts were not in the building heavily damaged by arson. The two 15-year-olds are being held in a Rome detention center until Thursday hearing.

Officer arrested second time in Walker County case

A Lafayette police officer has been arrested a second time in connection to the case of a missing 9-1-1 dispatcher in Walker County.

Former officer Ben Chaffin was arrested Tuesday--charges include violation of oath by public officer, tampering with evidence, and computer invasion of privacy.

Chaffin is a former co-worker of Theresa Parker, who has been missing since March 21st. Chaffin was first arrested in April on charges of making false statements relating to the investigation.

Family of missing woman to hold vigil

The family of missing Walker County 911 dispatcher Theresa Parker is planning a vigil in an effort to generate interest in the search for her. Parker's brother-in-law Jonathan Wilson says the family has scheduled the vigil for 7 Thursday evening behind the Walker County Civic Center. Family members say they want to make sure people keep thinking about Parker. She has been missing since March 21st. So far police have made no arrests in her disappearance.