The Great Smoky Mountain Journal
Tuesday, January 01, 2019 03:00 PM
Blount County Officials Identify Couple Found Dead In Townsend Home
One of the victims, according to deputies is Melinda Jacobs, 69, and her husband, Kenneth Jacobs, 59. Property records showed the couple owned the home in which they were reportedly found dead.
Autopsies on the Jacobs are scheduled for Sunday at the Knox County Regional Forensic Center.
According to the sheriff's office, deputies responded to a welfare check at the couple's home on Kelly Ridge Road in the Laurel Valley golf community. While there, they received information that a man might have barricaded himself in the home.
SWAT was on scene along with crisis negotiation. BCSO said after they attempted to negotiate with the residents, they entered the house and discovered the deceased couple.
A neighbor reported to local news media she didn't know the people who lived there well because she only has been living there for about one month. She said they have been living in their home for quite a while, expanding their home throughout the years.
Melinda, according to her website, owned an East Tennessee law firm in Townsend and Franklin, Tenn.
In a post to her website, Melinda's firm exclusively represents clients in "education law, including general education and special education issues arising under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and related federal and state laws and regulations."
According to the University of Tennessee's previous website, Melinda's husband, Kenneth, was an acclaimed musician. UT's former website indicated he previously directed the composition program at the University of Tennessee and is published by Boosey and Hawkes, Seesaw Music, and North / South Editions. The website added Kenneth is an Indiana native and was "awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He has received an International New Music Composers Award, Bergen Festival Award, City College of New York Electro-Acoustic Prize, the Brown University Choral Prize, Tennessee Orchestral Prize, prizes from the Tennessee and Texas Music Educators Associations, and a Phi Kappa Phi Outstanding Artist Award."