Police arrest suspect in Nashville nurse's murder
A man has been arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of a Nashville nurse, the Metro Nashville Police Department said Wednesday.
Christopher Drew McLawhorn, 24, was arrested and charged with criminal homicide and especially aggravated burglary in connection with the murder of Tiffany Ferguson, police said press conference Wednesday.
Officials said Ferguson, a 23-year-old nurse, was murdered on February 28th after a man broke into her Nashville apartment and stabbed her to death. Her roommate was awakened by her screams and called 911, according to police.
Surveillance video from the apartment building showed a man pulling on the door handles of parked cars around 5 a.m. The footage was a key component of the investigation, police said.
Police believe McLawhorn was a part of the burglary that ended in Ferguson's death. Possible motives are not being divulged publicly at this time, police said.
Authorities said McLawhorn denied involvement when interviewed by detectives.
Molly Cox, 32, Ferguson's sister, said Ferguson had attended nursing school in Alabama and had lived in the apartment for a little less than a year. Ferguson was a nurse in the intensive-care unit at a local Nashville hospital.
Cox said that Ferguson had traveled to Guatemala on a mission trip and would give food and money to the homeless people around her apartment building.
"I think she had been out with some coworkers and then came home," Cox said about Ferguson. "We understand that she got home and later on that morning her roommate heard a scream and the front door was open and they found her in the bed."
Cox said the family did not recognize the man on the video.
"I just want everyone to know that she [Ferguson] had a good heart and she was young and she was beautiful and she deserved better than what she got," she said. "She just had so many dreams and wanted to do so much."
It was unclear if McLawhorn had an attorney.
ABC News' Enjoli Francis contributed to this report.
