Melissa “Missy” Hamilton

Missy Hamilton struggled with addiction. She found herself a married mom of two boys with an addiction. Eventually her husband, Jack, kicked her out of the house and she lost custody of her sons, Patrick and Dalton. In 2008 she was at a crossroad, she either was going to rehab or continue on the dark road of addiction. She was able to complete rehabilitation, move back in with Jack and her sons and remained sober since 2008. She then dedicated her life to helping others with addiction. She got her bachelors degree in psychology and her masters degree in clinical health studies. Missy worked as a therapist and eventually became the assistant director at Crossroads Counseling, which provides court-appointed domestic violence and alcohol and drug therapy to people in Davidson County. 

On February 4th, 2019 after a normal day at work Missy (50) was finishing up a group therapy session. As she was cleaning up, putting away chairs and packing up for the night a man walked in the door. Police say Brian Dewayne Conley (32) killed her inside the Madison business in a shopping plaza at 521 Gallatin Pike South. She was raped and stabbed 73 times. Brian was caught entering the office at 7:30 pm and exiting less than a half hour later. The day after the Missy Hamilton murder Brian called out of work. The following day, co-workers witnessed Brian with cuts on his hands and a pink bandage around his pinky. He said he cut his hand playing with his knife. 

Police in West Tennessee had been investigating whether Conley was linked to the stabbing of another woman outside a mental health facility in Millington earlier this year. On Oct. 7, the Millington Police Department reported that a woman who worked at Professional Care Services, a mental health facility in the 5200 block of Navy Road, was also stabbed 20 times.

The victim is an employee of the clinic and was arriving for work when the attack occurred. Millington Police Chief Mark Dunbar said "The motive for the attack is unknown; however, our investigation at this point leads us to believe it may be a mental consumer." He also said the circumstances in the stabbing in Millington and the homicide in Madison were very similar, and the fact that Conley is from the Memphis/Shelby County area and has a violent criminal history played a role in their department potentially linking Conley to the case.

Police were never able to directly link the murder of Missy to the stabbed victim, but knowing now that he was responsibly for missy’s death in February doesn’t make it unreasonable to believe he could have done the stabbing in October. Police arrested him in December of 2019, the following year he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parol. 

In an effort to carry on that legacy and continue Missy’s work and ministry, Christ Life Community Church has created a scholarship fund to help people in need of professional counseling for addiction, grief, family dysfunction, and mental illness. 

https://christlifesmyrna.com/missy-hamilton-memorial-fund/

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