Frail, Sick Man Beaten To Death

Dayton, Tennessee police have now charged a man with beating Carlos "Cotton" McCuiston to death following what some describe as a "drunken brawl."

Chief Chris Sneed tells us William Thomas Minton, of Evensville, is now charged with criminal homicide after being held in the Rhea County Jail for questioning Thursday.

McCuiston's friend Brook Dunaway told us when she heard the news about what happened "my heart stopped, I couldn't believe it."

The grief brought family and friends together outside the Memorial Street house where "Cotton" lived and died. They say about 2:00 a.m. Thursday "Cotton' was up late with friends.

"There was a drunken brawl, my uncle lost his life because of some street punk," nephew Allen Ray Smith said.

Brook Dunaway's husband Brock said "they took a lamp and I guess beat him to death, he was a 100-pound old man, had heart conditions."

Mrs. Dunaway added "I do know he was hit on the head from behind and then dragged into the bathroom."

Dayton police won't give any details about what led up to the incident or why McCuiston was killed.

Smith said when he went inside his uncle's home he found a bloody scene he described as "gruesome, like a horror movie, most sickening thing I've seen in my life."

We're also being told there was a delay calling for help after McCuiston was beaten, but there's no indication that contributed to his death.

"They prayed, then called 911," Mr. Dunaway said. "I've never seen nobody pray then call 911, I'd have picked up the phone in there and called 911 immediately."

Some of McCuiston's family said earlier Thursday prior to the arrest that if police don't make an arrest and charge the killer with murder they could take matters into their own hands.

"So Hopefully we'll get justice by the law or by the street, because either way we're going to have to have justice," Smith said. 

Chief Sneed said he can not release any information or confirm what family and friends told us until after Minton is arraigned in Rhea County Sessions Court Friday morning.