Inset: Richard Keith Wilder (Marion County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The rural area where authorities discovered the burned remains of Wilder’s father in a firepit (Google Maps).
A 56-year-old man in Tennessee has been arrested for allegedly hiding and burning the body of his dead father in a firepit.
Last week, Richard Keith Wilder was arrested and charged with one count of corpse abuse, as authorities made known. In accordance with state law, corpse abuse is categorized as a Class E felony, which carries a potential sentence of up to 6 years in a state prison and a possible fine of $3,000.
A news announcement from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office revealed that investigators gathered leads suggesting “Wilder had concealed and incinerated his deceased father’s body at a site in Mullins Cove.” Mullins Cove is a rural locale located several miles north of the borders with Alabama and Georgia.
Along with investigators from the district attorney’s office, sheriff’s detectives arrived at the scene and promptly “discovered the human remains” suspected to belong to Wilder’s father.
The remains were “retrieved from a fire pit” and transported to the Medical Examiner’s Office in Nashville for identity verification. According to reports from the sheriff’s office to the local newspaper Sequatchie Valley Now, preliminary results are anticipated by Monday or Tuesday.
Detectives from the neighboring Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office also appeared on the scene to help recover the human remains, as stated in the release.
“On August 14, 2025, Detectives and DA Investigators assisted by the 12th Judicial District Drug and Violent Crime Task Force went to Wilder’s residence and arrested Wilder,” the release states.
It was not immediately clear how Wilder’s father died.
Richard Keith Wilder (MCSO).
Wilder was transported and booked into the Marion County Justice Center and is currently scheduled to appear in General Sessions Court on Wednesday, Aug. 20.
While authorities said that no additional information on the case would be released due to the ongoing investigation, Marion County Sheriff Ronnie “Bo” Burnett reportedly told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that the investigation into Wilder’s father began back in 2024.
“His father passed away back in December, and he took him over to a spot on Mullins Cove and tried to destroy the body by fire, according to our investigators,” Burnett told the newspaper.
Wilder’s home is reportedly in Whitwell, Tennessee, around 20 miles north of Mullins Cove.
