How and why we investigated the 1989 Nashville death of Kevin Hughes

For almost two years, I’ve investigated the 1989 death of Kevin Hughes.

I’ve read thousands of pages of police, coroner and court documents, newspaper clippings, interview transcripts and a letter from a convicted killer. The staff at The Tennessean had gathered many of these documents and conducted several interviews in 2019, kickstarting our investigation. They handed their reporting off to me.

To learn about the country music business, I’ve talked with a member of the County Music Hall of Fame, a four-time Grammy winner, a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, a member of the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame and one of the most popular Country Music disc jockeys in America.

I’ve been warned the work I’m doing is dangerous. My daughter lectured me for not setting up a tracking device on my phone. Speaking quietly in a booth at a fastfood restaurant, a source told me as long as some people connected to this case are still alive, I had better watch my back.

Several people I approached have declined to be interviewed because they are afraid.

I got a message that said, “It was very shady and scary – that whole thing going on with chart fixing … I still have family in Nashville. I don’t want to endanger them in any way.”

Another message from a different person said, “Keith, in no way will I be involved with any info about this subject … For me personally, I don’t feel it would be safe at all to be talking about that situation. If I sound scared, believe me, I am.”

In some cases, I’ve met with sources who asked that their identity remain anonymous. I have, of course, honored those requests.

I made a spreadsheet with a list of 171 names I have tried to track down. Many of them, I discovered, are dead. I’ve talked with 65 people connected with the case, some of them several times.

I have four, gray, three-ringed binders bulging with records, photos, drawings and love letters from a murder suspect that were never supposed to be seen by someone like me.

On Thanksgiving Day 2022, my wife and I enjoyed a nice turkey dinner in the Gulch, and then, because I’m obsessed, I drove her to Music Row, where we parked and I, with wild hand gestures and in grim detail, told her the whole story.

Once, I took a friend and a stopwatch to the scene to reenact what happened second by second.

One day I was asked by anonymous text (from an untraceable burner account) to write down the name of the person I thought was texting me. I was told to place that name in an envelope and drive more than 40 miles to an eatery where I had never been.

In the restaurant bar, I was approached by a person who I had never met.

I pulled the envelope out of the pocket of my sportcoat. They opened it, hesitated, then told me their name.

My guess was wrong, but by following directions I had secured a barroom interview with someone who provided key off-the-record information.

Here’s the bottom line: I found details that have never before been published from people who have never before come forward.

And now, I want you to read and hear what I’ve found.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How and why I investigated the 1989 Nashville death of Kevin Hughes