Murder-for-hire plot in Tennessee leads to arrest in NC’s Johnston County, cops say

One of two suspects in a Tennessee murder-for-hire plot has been captured 500 miles east in North Carolina, according to investigators in Tennessee.

Mitchell Skinner, 67, was arrested Nov. 12 in Johnston County and is being held for extradition, jail records show.

Skinner is accused of participating in a conspiracy to kill someone in East Tennessee, Cookeville police said in a news release. Cookeville is about a 515-mile drive northwest from Johnston County.

Details of the plot have not been released.

“While conducting a parallel investigation, detectives with the Cookeville Police Department discovered a murder-for-hire plot targeting a local resident of Cookeville. As a result of this discovery, the Putnam County Grand Jury returned indictments against Johnny Murray (45) and Mitchell Skinner (67) for conspiracy to commit first degree murder,” Cookeville police said in a Nov. 24 Facebook post.

“On November 11, members of the Cookeville Police Department Criminal Investigations Division traveled to Johnston County, North Carolina, to locate Mitchell Skinner. ... Skinner was located and arrested by the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office.”

Investigators have not released details of what Skinner was doing in Johnston County.

Murray was arrested Nov. 22 in Putnam County, Tennessee, and is being held without bond, police said.

“As this investigation is ongoing, the Cookeville Police Department will not be releasing the identity of the victim,” officials said.

Johnston County is about a 40-mile drive southeast from downtown Raleigh.

This story was originally published November 25, 2025 at 6:45 AM with the headline "Murder-for-hire plot in Tennessee leads to arrest in NC’s Johnston County, cops say."