MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – UPDATED - A man accused of murdering a woman at her Murfreesboro apartment earlier this year on February 15th is awaiting extradition after being arrested several months ago in Kentucky. Rutherford County Assistant District Attorney Trevor Lynch told WGNS that police discovered the lifeless body of 25-year-old Rebecca Stockton when they responded to a shot’s fired call at an apartment complex on Pucket Creek Crossing… Evidently, Stockton was shot and killed by a .40-caliber gun.

41-Year-old suspect Saleem Tamir Hamilton was arrested in Kentucky, and was charged with possession of a handgun by a convicted felon and possession of a defaced handgun. Defacing a firearm typically means that someone altered, destroyed or removed the manufactures serial number on a gun. He was also detained as a wanted fugitive from Tennessee for the first-degree murder of Stockton, who was killed in her Fortress Grove Apartment the day after Valentine’s.

Hamilton was captured in Corbin, Kentucky during the early morning hours of February 16th, just one day after Ms. Stockton was found dead in Murfreesboro. Stockton was located in the living of her apartment that she shared with Hamilton. The two reportedly lived at Fortress Grove Apartments on Puckett Creek Crossing. Hamilton’s case in Whitley County, Kentucky remains open and active as he awaits extradition to Murfreesboro.

As of Tuesday, July 11, 2023, Hamilton was still behind bars at the Whitley County Detention Center in Kentucky. Again, he will be transported back to Tennessee in the near future to face the first degree murder charge tied to the death of Rebecca Stockton.

Hamilton's Past - In 1999, Hamilton was convicted following an Iowa jury trial of robbery in the first degree. He was sentenced to twenty-five years and ordered to serve no less than 85% of that sentence. In the crime that led to his conviction, he participated in a robbery and after the robbery, he was followed back to his apartment complex by a witness. Court documents from an appeal to the 1999 conviction, show there was overwhelming evidence against Hamilton in the robbery.

While serving time in the Iowa State Penitentiary in 2002, he was accused of leading an uprising against correctional officers after a fight broke out in the prison gymnasium. Hamilton and a group of inmates allegedly worked to block prison officers from reaching the brawling prisoners.

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