Martin County man convicted of murder up for parole in December

By Lilly Adkins

BSN Associate Editor

INEZ —A Martin County man convicted of killing George W. Cornette in February 2004 is up for parole in December. Albert E. Workman Jr., 45, was sentenced to 20 years for the murder and was also convicted of theft by unlawful taking, for which he was sentenced to five years and a requirement that he serve at least 20 percent of his sentence. An indictment filed March 29, 2004. says Workman intentionally caused the death of Cornette, with a dangerous instrument on February 8, 2004, and took a 1993 Chevy Cavalier along with personal possessions owned by Cornette. Cornette was found beaten to death in his bed in his mobile home on Ky. 908 outside of Inez, according to court record. A police report said the “victim was beaten after apparent unwanted sexual advances had been made by the deceased towards the accused.” Then-Kentucky State Police Det. Steve Bowman said in the report that when he arrived at the scene, he was told that Cornette lived in the mobile home along with Tonya and Albert Workman. “No weapon was found at the scene,” the report said. “The assault appeared to have occurred while the victim laid where he was found. There was no indication that he had been moved after he was struck,” the report said. Orville Ray Horn approached the officers out in the roadway and told them that two people came to his home early that morning requesting help, the report said. “They were stuck in the ditch line there at George’s and needed to be pulled out,” the report said. “He knew them to be Albert and Tanya Workman. They were stuck in the victim’s car. He and his son Josh Horn took them back up there and pulled them out of the ditch and got them back on the road. The report said that the Workmans had been “involved in an injury accident in Inez that very morning in the murder victim’s car.” “They had been transported to Paul B. Hall Medical Center in Paintsville,” the report said. “The officers realized that the car was full of property. It had been impounded by Carter’s used cars in Beauty.” While the scene was being processed, the officers executed a search warrant on the impounded vehicle and when they were done, they returned to the scene of the accident at Inez, the report said. “At the scene of the accident, they recovered a vertical bar of a bumper jack. It appeared to be covered in blood and dirt, and it was retained as evidence,” the report said. The Martin County Sheriff’s Office began getting phone calls from Albert Workman’s brother, who told him that Albert Workman was at Richard Hardy’s residence in Auxier in Floyd County. Several KSP officers went to the Hardy’s residence and found Tanya and Albert Workman, then told them they needed to go with them for questioning at city hall in Prestonsburg and they agreed, the report said. The Hardys said they knew nothing about a murder and that they had picked the Workmans up from the hospital after they called and told them they had been in an accident, the report said. KSP Det. Mike Goble interviewed Tanya Workman, with members of the Martin County Sheriff’s Office present, the report said. She stated that she and her husband lived there with Cornette and that Cornette came home the day prior around 5:30,that her husband Albert and Cornette were drinking, and that Cornette fed him Xanax, the report said. During the evening, Cornette tried to get Albert Workman to “do nasty things to him,” she told police. “Albert don’t believe in that kind of stuff,” Tanya Workman told police. “George was watching porno movies in the living room. He was doing nasty things in front of them. George went to bed around 12:30-1. Albert was pretty lit up.” Tanya Workman said in the report that her husband looked at her and stated that he was going to kill Cornette, the report said, and she stated no, “please don’t do this, just let us leave and don’t come back and he said no, you can leave, but I will kill him.” Tanya Workman said that she saw her husband have a jack or bar in his hand, she thought it was green and metal, about two fingers wide or three and about three feet long, the report said. “She did not see it before but saw it after and it had blood on it. She saw him come out of the trailer with it. She was at the car. She stated that she was in the car starting it up, and did not know what he did with it,” the report said. “She did not see blood on him. He told her that he had killed him, go get our clothes. She stated that they had a bedroom, but slept on the couch because there was not a bed in the bedroom. She did not go into the main back bedroom. She stated that Albert had on the clothes that he had on that night. She says Albert is her husband and that he is the one that killed George.”