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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A man once thought to be a witness in a Tennessee nursing student's murder case has been found dead in an apparent suicide in Florida, police said Thursday.
The body of Shayne Austin was found in a hotel room in Bartow, Florida, on Monday, said Sgt. Eric Sherouse, a detective with the Bartow police department. Sherouse said Austin was hanged.
Sherouse said evidence points to Austin committing suicide. An autopsy will determine the official cause of death.
Austin had been battling over an immunity agreement in the investigation into the kidnapping and murder of Holly Bobo. She was 20 when she was reported missing in April 2011. Authorities say her skull was found in September in the woods of rural Decatur County, not far from her West Tennessee home.
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