Family alleges police covered up murder of Army specialist stationed at Fort Campbell

The mother of a Fort Campbell soldier killed by a vehicle in Middle Tennessee has determined her son’s death in 2016 was no accident, and is challenging the sheriff’s department that did the investigation.

21-year-old For Campbell soldier Austin McGeough reportedly left a Pleasant View house party under the influence of drugs and alcohol on October 15, 2016, according to police.

After breaking into a nursery, Cheatham County Sheriff’s Officer investigators claim he reportedly called 911 to tell authorities that he was being chased by bees, eventually leaving the nursery and running onto a highway, where he was hit by one driver and run over by two others.

However, the 911 call makes no mention of bees, with the coroner making no notes that he was stung.

“This is just a disgusting case of pick and choose what you investigate and who you’re connected to,” said Jane Barter, a family friend of McGeough’s, who has become the family’s unofficial spokesperson.

The family hired a private forensics lab in California to analyze the 911 call. The lab determined that there were people around McGeough when he dialed for emergency services.

“It is clear that there were other individuals in close enough proximity to the caller to be picked up by his phone’s microphone,” the lab said in a report obtained by FOX61.

Barter claims that this analysis proves McGeough was being chased by men, not bees.

McGeough’s mother, Kim Read, hired a private investigator to find and track down the third driver who ran over the drunken soldier. According to Barter, police did not prosecute the driver due to law enforcement ties in the family. Tracking the driver down personally, he simply said that he saw something in the road (but couldn’t identify it) and hoped he didn’t kill anyone.

Despite Cheatham County investigators emphasizing that the case is closed, Read refuses to let the matter go.

“No one knows that at home, in the middle of the night when my family is sleeping, that I’m up and I’m dry heaving and I’m crying and I’m begging and I’m just online investigating this whole thing myself,” Read told FOX61.

Calling themselves “moms on a mission,” both Read and Barter will not cease until that find the kind of answers they are looking for.

“We’re in it until the end,” said Barter. “And they [investigators] better get used to us, because we’re gonna be around a long time.”

The family will be re-filing a lawsuit in the coming months.