Circumstances remain unclear after Ashleigh E. McKinzie, a 41-year-old professor at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), was found shot dead early Thursday morning, December 4, 2025, on a rural Tennessee highway. Authorities say it is still unknown who fired the fatal shot or why two guns were present at the scene.
Deputies from the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department responded at around 4:51 a.m. on December 4 to a call near Captain’s Point Road on Smithville Highway. When they arrived, they found McKinzie lying in the roadway with “apparent gunshot wounds.” Next to her body was a “loaded and cocked handgun,” which investigators say belonged to McKinzie.
