Johnny Cash’s Great-Niece Stabbed to Death

According Putnam County Sheriff David Andrews, Courtney Cash, the great-niece of the late singer Johnny Cash, has been found stabbed to death and stuffed in a chest in a home near Cookeville, about 70 miles east of Nashville.

A man identified as William Austin Johnson, Cash’s boyfriend, was being treated for stab wounds at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Andrews said.

Andrews said the pair had gone out with a friend before an argument took place in the house where Johnson and Cash lived with their young child. The friend, identified as Wayne Gary Masciarella, has been charged with first-degree murder.

Masciarella is being held without bond. He has a court date scheduled for April 21. Officials in Putnam County said.