Tragic Connection Between a Headstone Salesman and a Fallen Firefighter

We have an update on two stories, tragically connected in a NewsChannel 9 investigation..

The first involves a former cemetery headstone salesman, who is now in Hamilton County to face justice..

The other case involves the family of a firefighter killed in the line of duty, struggling with their grief.. and trying to get their money back for a burial marker they paid for, and did not receive..

Shane Daughetee spent all of his life as a firefighter, passionately trying to save peoples' lives and property.

"He ran every call he could," says Nicole Daughetee, Shane's wife. "If he wasn't at work, he was trying to run a call."

On the morning of January 26th of last year while Shane was on a fire call, his wife Nicole got a visit from the fire station chaplain, with the news every firefighter spouse dreads..

Shane... would not be coming home.

"I felt like I was in a dream," Nicole remembers, "a bad dream that I couldn't wake up from.. I still sometimes feel like that."

The floor of the burning house Daughetee was in, collapsed underneath him, killing him.

Within weeks of his burial, the Daughetee family got a call from River City Monuments, with a great deal on a headstone. It was to have an etching of Shane in his firefighter's turn-out suit on it. The family ended up paying 33-hundred dollars for the marker, that never arrived. That was over a year ago.

On another side of town, this week, a man appears in a Hamilton County courtroom for the first time. His name is very familiar to NewsChannel 9 viewers. Ricky Lee Gann is fresh from a court appearance in Rhea County. Two weeks ago, he pleaded guilty to taking money for headstones from three families there, and spent over six months in jail. It was our NewsChannel 9 investigation last year, that put him there. He was also ordered to pay the victims back. Gann may not have an easier time in Hamilton County.

"You are charged with theft of property," Judge Barry Steelman read from a long list of charges.

That first charge is the alleged theft of the Daughetee's 33-hundred dollars. They came to court to face Gann, who calmly avoided their glance. Gann is also charged with taking money to supply headstones for nine other grieving Hamilton County families. Families who say neither Gann, nor his brother, company owner Kevin Gann, ever followed through on their delivery promises. Ultimately, the Daughetee's were forced to purchase another headstone from another company.

In a very emotional ceremony this past Wednesday, that stone was laid to rest over a lonely grave, as loved ones struggle to put to rest what they say, Gann did to them..

"Will there be justice, do you think?" I asked Nicole Daughetee.

"I hope so," she replied, as she watched Shane's beautiful new headstone carefully lowered into place. "If not now, then later. I know, he will pay pentance for it."

Gann has been in jail since September 25th of last year. He's been given bond, but Hamilton County authorities are holding him for three other counties that have also charged him with theft, for not delivering headstones. His next Hamilton County court appearance is May 14th.