Tenant Indicted in Murder of Landlord

July 25, 2022 – A Whitehaven man has been indicted in the shooting death last year of his landlord who had been trying to evict him from a property for nonpayment of rent, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.

Robert Lee Collins III, 38, was indicted on counts of first-degree murder and convicted felon with a firearm. Collins is being held without bond.

Witnesses said Collins had been renting a small building in the 600 block of East Shelby Drive from Ernest Hatton, but that he was many months behind in rent and had failed to maintain the property. Collins worked on cars and often slept there.

Investigators said that when Hatton came to the site the afternoon of Nov. 16, 2021, Collins fired multiple gunshots at him. Hatton, 50, was struck more than a dozen times and was pronounced dead at a hospital a short time later.

Collins walked up to police at the scene and said he shot Hatton. A witness told police that Collins said before the shooting that if Hatton came to see him that he “had something for him.”

The case is being handled by Felony Asst. Susan Taylor of the District Attorney’s Vertical Team 4 which prosecutes cases in General Sessions Division 12 and in Criminal Court Division 4.