Tragic Tuesday takes lives of four in Macon, Clay

UPPER CUMBERLAND — It was a tragic Tuesday morning in the northern Upper Cumberland, with family situations turning deadly in Clay and Macon counties.

Two died and another was injured in what has been described as a property dispute in Clay County, and two, a father and son, are dead in Macon County as investigators there still try to piece together what happened.

Kathleen Russell, 61, and Gene Wolf, 63, are dead and Robert Higley, 37, was injured in the Clay County incident.

Russell and Wolf were a sister and brother team who raised purebred Doberman pinschers on a farm on Billie Hill Road in the Baptist Ridge community of Clay County, and Higley is a nephew of the two.

According to a Monday evening post made by Wolf on the Facebook page for the dog breeding business, “Tonight I was told by my sister that she is selling the property that Baptist Ridge Dobermans is on. That means we will be closing our doors. She will be putting the property on the market tomorrow. I was stunned.”

The following morning, a hunter in the vicinity of the farm reported hearing multiple gun shots from multiple guns.

Sources close to the family say Wolf lived in a mobile home on his sister’s property and that Russell kept approximately 25 adult dogs for breeding and fed them each morning around 6:30.

When the hunter arrived on the scene, he discovered Russell and Wolf both fatally shot near her home and Higley injured with a gunshot wound.

Sources say the shooting happened after an argument among the three escalated, and Wolf drew a gun, firing at his sister and nephew.

Allegedly, the injured nephew lay still until his uncle left the scene, then crawled to his aunt’s car where he retrieved a gun.

When Wolf returned to the scene a short time later, Higley reportedly fatally shot the man, and told the hunter when he arrived on the scene, “I’ve just shot my uncle.”

Higley was transported to Cookeville Regional Medical Center, where his condition was stabilized, then transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

There is no word on his condition this morning.