Johnson man charged with murder

By Lilly Adkins

BSN Associate Editor

STAFFORDSVILLE — A Johnson County man was arrested and charged with murder after allegedly shooting and killing his brother-in-law Thursday.

John David Trimble, 64, of Staffordsville, is charged with murdering Randy Salyers by shooting him with a firearm once in the chest Thursday at approximately 3:18 p.m.in an alleged effort to protect his wife from being killed, police said.

When members of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the scene, they announced their presence and told by a woman to come inside, according to the arrest report.

Deputy Chad Penix said in the report that he opened a glass screen door and asked who he was speaking with, and she gave him her name and he stepped inside the home.

The main door stopped against a couch on the right of the entrance, the report said, and the officer could immediately see a male subject lying on his back in the living area of the house.

Trimble came out from behind a partition that separated the kitchen from the living area, the report said. Penix got the weapon secured by leaving it in an end table drawer and then went over to Salyers and checked for life, but he had no pulse or breath, the report said.

Paintsville EMS arrived on the scene while the officer was checking Salyers, and they hooked up the EKG and confirmed there was no sustainable life response present, the report said. Johnson County Coroner J.R. Frisby was then notified.

Also while Penix was checking Salyers, Trimble said that Salyers “had pointed a 9 mm at his wife’s head and told her that he was going to kill her, so he shot him before he could,” the report said.

Once Penix got the scene under control, he read Trimble and his wife, Sherrie K. Trimble, their Miranda rights, and had both sign a consent to search for the property, the report said.

Trimble gave another statement on recording of what he could remember, the report said, and he stated that the incident happened so fast.

Trimble told Penix that the three of them had been drinking alcoholic beverages since around 11 a.m. on the day of the shooting, the report said. There were Bud Light and Busch cans laying around in the living area of the home, the report said.

The Busch cans were in a plastic grocery bag on the side where Sherrie Trimble was sitting in the room, and she stated that her husband had saved her life, the report said. She said she and Salyers, who was her brother, were arguing when he pulled out his gun, pointed it at her and told her he was going to kill her, the report said.

Pennington did a GSR kit on Trimble and placed him under arrest, then took him to Paul B. Hall Regional Medical Center for a blood draw, the report said.

Trimble gave consent at the hospital for the blood draw to be collected and was later transported to the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center.