Early Saturday morning, the DeKalb Ambulance Service (DAS) and DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to a home in the Painter community, after a man had notified them his girlfriend was unresponsive.

The victim, Melissa Nicole Waldrep (31 of Crossville), was pronounced deceased on the scene. The DeKalb County Coroner, Sheriff’s Office Investigators, the District Attorney’s Office, and JSU – Center for Applied Forensics responded to the incident, and an investigation was soon underway.

A preliminary autopsy in the case showed the cause of death to be strangulation.

After a diligent investigation and questioning witnesses, Christopher Lee Snow (33 of Crossville) was arrested and charged with murder in the incident. Snow remains in the DeKalb County jail with a cash bond of $250,000.

DeKalb County Sheriff Nick Welden said of the murder charge: “I’d like to commend our investigators on another job well done in quickly resolving this case. It’s unfortunate that they’ve had to deal with yet another murder investigation this weekend.”

“Incidents involving violence are always a top priority to our investigative team. Those that take the life of another will be held accountable,” he said.

“I pray that these incidents are not the start of a trend in our county. We ask that you please keep the family of the deceased in your thoughts and prayers,” said Welden.

“God Bless,” concluded Sheriff Welden.