Bail for Mountain City, Tennessee’s Barbara Potter set at $50K

Barbara Potter

Barbara Mae Potter, 62, of Mountain City, Johnson County, Tennessee, United States has been arrested. She is the wife of Marvin “Buddy” Potter Jr., 60, and mother of Jenelle Potter, 32.

Barbara used to work for Hewlett-Packard while Buddy is a former marine who served in Vietnam. Before retiring, he worked with the Central Intelligence Agency.

Both Buddy and Barbara were allegedly very protective of Jenelle. Due to several health concerns, the daughter led a sheltered life and Facebook became her oasis.

In 2005, Jenelle moved to Mountain City with her parents. One day, she was picking up her prescription meds when she met pharmacy clerk Tracy Greenwell, sister of Billy Payne, 36, and cousin of Jamie Lynn Curd, 38.

Greenwell set up Jenelle with Curd. Although Jenelle formed a crush on Payne, she started dating Curd, which they had to do secretly because she did not want her strict parents to find out.

Payne had a girlfriend named Billie Jean Hayworth, 23. She gave birth to their son in June 2011.

Jenelle Potter

Jenelle had a history of reacting violently when her Facebook friends unfriend her. This was why a telephone harassment complaint was filed against her on May 7, 2011 by Lindsey Thomas.

When Jenelle started receiving anonymous hate messages, she blamed Hayworth. It started a Facebook feud between them, which allegedly became worse when Hayworth unfriended Jenelle.

When Payne and Hayworth were found dead by a friend inside their home in Mountain City on January 31, 2012, their eight-month-old son was unharmed and in Hayworth’s arms. Buddy and Curd are accused of fatally shooting the couple both in the head.

On February 6, 2012, Buddy was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. During a search warrant of his Mountain City home on February 7, 2012, one of the police officers assisting in the search allegedly saw Barbara trying to destroy computer printed photographs of one of the murder victims.

On September 20, 2012, Barbara was indicted on one count of tampering with evidence. On September 24, 2012, she was arrested without incident.

Bail for Barbara was set at $50,000. She was booked into the Johnson County Jail in in Cleburne, Texas.