May 19, 2025
By: Dwayne Page
A woman indicted by the DeKalb County Grand Jury for 2nd degree murder in the 2021 death of a man believed to have overdosed on Fentanyl was sentenced in DeKalb County Criminal Court Monday, May 19.
64-year-old Tommye Lou Bell entered a plea to reckless homicide and received a TDOC sentence of six years to serve at 30% before her release eligibility date. Bell has been given jail credit of 104 days. She and two co-defendants, 51-year-old Sharon Joyce Malone and 48-year-old Vanessa Louise Lance, were indicted for 2nd degree murder and possession of schedule II drugs (Fentanyl & Cocaine) with intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver (2 counts)
The indictment against the three alleged that between the dates of December 13-16, 2021, Bell, Lance, and Malone did unlawfully and recklessly kill 64-year-old Stephen Wayne Mullican of Old Snows Hill Road, Dowelltown by the unlawful distribution, delivery, or dispensation of Fentanyl, Acetyl Fentanyl, Cocaine, and Ethanol and that these drugs were the proximate cause of Mullican’s death. Mullican was reportedly Lance’s father.
Bell was also indicted for unlawfully selling the schedule II drugs Fentanyl and Cocaine between the dates of December 13-16, 2021.
Malone and Lance were co-indicted for unlawfully delivering the schedule II drugs Fentanyl and Cocaine between December 13-16, 2021.
The cases were investigated by DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department Detectives and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.