Police: Nashville Man Kills Wife with Hammer on New Year’s Day, Buries Her on Property

A Nashville man is accused of killing his elderly wife with a hammer on New Year’s Day and burying her body on his property outside of town, police say.

Joseph Glynn, 70, was arrested Saturday by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department after investigators discovered the body of Jackie Glynn, 76, in a six-foot grave on land the couple owned in Smithville, Tennessee.

The department announced the tragic news in a follow-up post to a Silver Alert for the slain woman, who had been missing since January 1. 

“Some difficult news to share. Jackie Glynn, the subject of a #TNSilverAlert issued last evening, has been found deceased in Smithville,” officials wrote. “Our thoughts are with those who knew and loved her.”

Police said Joseph admitted to bashing Jackie’s head with a hammer at their home, Fox News reports.

An investigation determined that Joseph killed his wife in Nashville on the day she was last seen in the area of Abbott Martin Road, before driving her body about an hour away to the property they shared and burying her.

After allegedly killing his wife, police said that Joseph told Jackie’s children that she had left because she was terminally ill. Upon questioning her medical provider, they found that to be false.

After the Silver Alert was issued on Friday, police located her car near the couple’s Smithville property and later found “a freshly covered hole” on the land, Fox reports.

Upon digging, Jackie’s body was found in the six-foot-deep grave inside a vehicle cargo box and underneath a pile of roofing shingles, according to WSMV-TV.

Investigators said they determined that Glynn hired a contractor to dig the hole on December 16 for what he had claimed was a burn pit.

Authorities believe he ditched the murder weapon somewhere at the Keltonburg Community Center, but it has yet to be recovered.

Joseph was charged with criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse, and evidence tampering and is currently being held at Davidson County Jail on a $1,030,000 bond.