LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. — Nearly two months after 50-year-old Teresa Wyatt was found dead inside her burned mobile home on Waterworks Road, the man believed to have set the fire to cover up her murder was arrested.

Jeffery Wade Sweeney, 46, of 510 Jackson Street in London, was taken into custody Thursday by Kentucky State Police Detective Billy Correll on charges of first-degree arson, first-degree robbery, murder, and tampering with physical evidence. Jail records show Sweeney was also charged with possession of marijuana.

The citation filed in Sweeney’s case states Sweeney acknowledged being at Wyatt’s home at the time of the murder. However, he told police he was with some other people, whose identities he did not know. He did state a black lock box was taken from Wyatt’s home and that he discarded a bloody towel with Wyatt’s blood on it, but other evidence belonging to the victim was burned in the fire.

Sweeney was arraigned before Laurel District Judge John Chappell on Friday morning, where he was scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, May 29. Sweeney was placed under a $200,000 surety bond.

A preliminary autopsy revealed Wyatt died from blunt force trauma rather than from the fire that ravaged her mobile home on March 29. The Laurel County Volunteer Fire Department responded to the fire and found Wyatt’s body inside the home. Kentucky State Police detectives and arson investigators continued the investigation and were seeking information on a vehicle seen leaving the scene prior to the fire. The vehicle was a small black SUV, possibly a Suzuki, that was occupied by a thin female with reddish-blonde hair.

Officials swarmed the scene of the fire around 10:30 p.m. that night with members from the KSP Post 11 in London, Laurel County Coroner’s office, Laurel County Volunteer Fire Department, and Kentucky State Fire Marshall’s office. The Kentucky State Medical Examiner’s Office determined Wyatt died from being hit with a blunt object rather than from the fire.

The investigation into Wyatt’s death is being handled by Detective Correll, who was assisted in the arrest of Sweeney by KSP Post 11 Arson Detective Brian Lewis.



njohnson@sentinel-echo.com