Johnny Cash’s family is urging investigators to re-open the murder case of his great-niece to determine if another person may have been involved after they discovered unseen documents.
Courtney Cash, then 23, was found stabbed to death and stuffed in a container in her Cookeville, Tennessee home on March 18, 2014.
Her family gathered on the ninth anniversary of her death on Saturday at Cookeville Courthouse Square to remember Courtney months after her mom, Cindy Cash, obtained an unseen police report of her death.
‘We’re requesting for them to even just look at their own records, their own reporting, their own investigating,’ Cindy told WKRN.
Wayne Gary Masciarella, 26, was arrested for Courtney’s murder and pleaded guilty in 2016 to second-degree murder. He is serving a 15-year sentence.
Courtney Cash, then 23, was found stabbed to death and stuffed in a container in her Cookeville, Tennessee home on March 18, 2014
At the time of Courtney’s death, Masciarella stabbed her after getting into an altercation with her and her boyfriend William Austin Johnson (left), who also suffered stab wounds. The two shared a 20-month-old daughter
It’s unclear what is written in the police report, but in the past, Cindy urged police to take a deeper look into Courtney’s murder.
At the time of Courtney’s death, Masciarella stabbed her after getting into an altercation with her and her boyfriend William Austin Johnson, who also suffered stab wounds, police said.
Johnson told prosecutors at the time that Masciarella attacked him and Courtney, injected them with something and then stabbed them because he believed he was poisoned, WKRN reported.
Courtney’s mother, Cindy Cash, said she recently obtained an unseen police report of her death
He had fled the home with his then 20-month-old daughter Cameryn after unsuccessfully performing CPR on Courtney, he testified in 2014.
Since Courtney’s death, her family has always held onto the belief that another person was involved.
Despite their assumptions, District Attorney Bryant Dunaway said last year that their accusations didn’t match the evidence from the case.
‘The family has stated to me that they feel that Austin Johnson should have been charged as well,’ Dunaway said last year, according to the news outlet.
‘The evidence just does not support that position. This office can only ethically charge and prosecute persons for criminal offenses where there is a good faith belief that the evidence will support a conviction.
‘In this case, the evidence available indicated only Maciarella as being the murderer.’
The district attorney’s office wasn’t immediately available for comment.
Wayne Gary Masciarella, 26, was arrested for Courtney’s murder and pleaded guilty in 2016 to second-degree murder. He is serving a 15-year sentence
Since Courtney’s death, her family has always held onto the belief that another person was involved. Pictured: Courtney and her daughter Cameryn
Courtney was the great-niece of American country songwriter Johnny Cash
Despite their assumptions, District Attorney Bryant Dunaway said last year that their accusations didn’t match the evidence from the case
Courtney’s now 10-year-old daughter Cameryn is now taken care of by Cindy Cash
Cindy takes care of Courtney’s now 10-year-old daughter Cameryn, who has a lot of questions about her mother’s death.
‘It’s just heartbreaking because I can’t be her mother,’ Cindy told the news outlet. ‘It’s just hard. It’s just so hard.’
Despite witnessing Courtney die at a young age, she has no recollection.
‘She calls my wife Gigi,’ Ken Young, Courntey’s step-father, previously told WKRN. ‘And she called me in one night, this was years ago, and she said, “Papa, I need to talk to you privately.” And I said, “Okay, what’s up?”
‘She said, “I want to know how my momma died.” And she said, “Gigi won’t tell me because she thinks I’m not sophisticated enough to know.”‘
Meanwhile, heartbroken Cindy is navigating through finding more answers about her daughter’s death while raising Cameryn.
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