Rhea County woman facing second-degree murder charge

RHEA COUNTY — An investigation by special agents with the Drug Investigation Division of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, along with investigators with the Pikeville Police Department and the Office of the 12th Judicial District Attorney General, has resulted in the indictment of a Rhea County woman, charged in the drug-related death of a Pikeville woman.

In August 2022, officers with the Pikeville Police Department responded to an overdose death call for service at a Pikeville hospital. They found Hailey Green deceased from an apparent overdose. At the request of Pikeville police and the Office of the 12th Judicial District Attorney General, TBI drug agents joined the investigation. During the course of the investigation, agents and officers identified Kayla Tinsley as the individual involved in the fentanyl distribution that led directly to the victim’s death.

On April 1, the Rhea County Grand Jury returned indictments charging Kayla P. Tinsley with one count of second degree murder and three counts of possession of Schedule II controlled substance for resale. On Tuesday, Tinsley was arrested and booked into the Rhea County Jail on a $450,000 bond.