Man held here in Texas death
From Staff Reports
Blount County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a 26-year-old Texas man as a person of interest in the disappearance of a Texas woman who was later found dead.
Joshua David Latham is in custody at the Blount County Detention Facility awaiting extradition back to Texas, according to a BCSO press release.
The Sheriff’s Office received information last Thursday from authorities in Orange County, Texas, that Latham might be en route to Maryville. Latham has family ties in Blount County.
During the course of the investigation, officers tracked Latham to a residence on Magill Avenue and took him into custody at about 8 p.m. Thursday night.
On Friday morning, a Texas Ranger, along with an officer with the Orange, Texas, Police Department, came to Blount County to interview Latham in connection with the disappearance of 41-year-old Tami Diane Higginbotham, of Vinton, Texas, who had been missing since Feb. 8.
Higginbotham told her family she was going to meet Latham about a cell phone exchange.
After Texas authorities interviewed Latham Friday afternoon at the Blount County Detention Facility, authorities found Higginbotham’s body in a wooded area in Newton County, which is north of Beaumont.
A woman who traveled with Latham to Maryville was interviewed Friday and released. Latham is awaiting extradition to Texas, which could take several days, according to the release.
