Tennessee
Mother of slain Tennessee deputy pushes for nationwide domestic violence registry
SPRINGFIELD, TENN. (WTVF) — Robertson County Deputy Savanna Puckett was shot and killed in 2022 at just 22 years old — the victim of a man her family says had a violent past that no one could easily see.
Her mother, Kim Dodson, is determined to make sure other families have the tools to protect themselves. That fight led to “Savanna’s Law,” which creates Tennessee’s first public registry for repeat domestic violence offenders. Dodson is now working to spread the idea nationwide.
Dodson says her daughter spent her short life putting others first — whether serving with the Robertson County Sheriff’s Office, working at Vanderbilt, or volunteering in the community.
“She loved what she did. I know they called her mother hen up there because she was always trying to feed them and take care of them,” Dodson said.
But beneath the man charged in her killing was a record Dodson says even her deputy daughter could not find: four prior domestic violence and stalking charges.
After the murder, Dodson began working with lawmakers to ask a simple question: “Why don’t we have a registry?”
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation now oversees the new Domestic Violence Offender Registry, which began Jan. 1, 2026. Under the law:
- Repeat offenders convicted of qualifying domestic violence crimes must register publicly.
- The registry includes names, conviction counties, conviction dates and, in some cases, photographs.
- Those convicted must have at least one prior domestic violence-related conviction.
- Depending on their criminal history, offenders remain on the registry between five and 20 years.
Dodson points out Tennessee already has registries for sex offenders, animal abusers, and elder abuse perpetrators. She says adding domestic violence offenders was long overdue.
Dodson knows the registry cannot prevent every violent crime, but she hopes it can give families access to information her daughter never had.
“If Savanna had this to look up, I don’t believe she would ever have gotten involved with him. If I can save one person — another mother, another grandmother — it’s worth it,” Dodson said.
Advocates from 12 other states have reached out, hoping to replicate the law. Dodson’s ultimate goal is to pass a federal law making the registry nationwide.
Until then, she says she’ll keep pushing — both in the legislature and in the community — through the Deputy Puckett Foundation.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Neighbors transform Antioch Pike after deadly hit-and-run
Here’s a story offering a great example of how a common cause, and a little creativity, can “intersect” to improve quality of life. Our South Nashville reporter Patsy Montesinos shares how some neighbors decided to take action, following the tragic death of a 77-year-old in a hit-and-run along Antioch Pike earlier this year. See how they used “tactical urbanism” to make the area a little safer for all.
– Rhori Johnston
Former Tennessee baseball pitcher Garrett Stallings was called up by the Milwaukee Brewers on June 30.
Stallings, 28, likely will make his major league debut against the Cincinnati Reds on June 30 in the second game of the Brewers’ four-game homestand.
Stallings played at Tennessee from 2017 to 2019 in the early years of Tony Vitello’s stint at the Vols’ head coach. He earned a starting role as a freshman and became the ace by his junior season.
In 2019, the Los Angeles Angels selected Stallings in the fifth round of the MLB draft. He bounced around in the minors before landing firmly in Triple-A with the Norfolk Tides, and later the Brewers’ affiliate Nashville Sounds, in 2024.
Stallings posted a 3-3 record with the Sounds in 2026 with a 3.45 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 62⅔ innings.
He will be the 54th player in Tennessee history to reach the major leagues and the 12th since 2020. He will join left-hander Garrett Crochet (2020); right-hander Ben Joyce (2023); infielder Andre Lipcius (2023); IF Trey Lipscomb (2024); outfielder Jordan Beck (2024); RHP Seth Halvorsen (2024); RHP Chase Dollander (2025); RHP Blade Tidwell (2025); INF Christian Moore (2025); OF Drew Gilbert (2025); and RHP Chad Dallas (2026).
Dallas made his debut for the Toronto Blue Jays on June 4.
Wynton Jackson covers high school sports for Knox News. Email: wynton.jackson@knoxnews.com
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BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The poet laureate of Tennessee has just died. Margaret Britton Vaughn was 87-years-old. Friends knew Vaughn as hilarious, talented, and deeply unique.
Visiting Bell Buckle, Tennessee over the years, I’ve just found this little place has so many artists. A proud addition to that is Vaughn.
“When Maggi was your friend, you knew you had a friend,” said longtime friend Annie Rooney. “It wasn’t if you’re rich or poor or have four matching tires on your car, she was your friend.”
Going way back, Vaughn was a songwriter for some country greats.
“Loretta Lynn, yes!” said friend Carla Webb.
To understand the uniqueness of Vaughn, listen to this story.
“Maggi says, ‘honey, you wanna go to the movies with me?’” friend Billy Phillips remembered.
Phillips was nine when he and Vaughn became friends and took a trip to the Carpi Theatre in Shelbyville.
“When I get into the car, there were 200 empty boxes of chocolate bunny rabbits!” Phillips laughed.
“She loved chocolate,” Rooney agreed.
“It couldn’t be hollow milk chocolate,” Phillips continued. “It had to be solid milk chocolate.”
That was just one of many loves. One of the times I got to talk to Vaughn was in 2023. She was selling eclectic things she’d collected. They included a typewriter built out of clothes hangers and a lamp made of forks and spoons.
“Maggi had a lot of stuff!” Phillips said.
She’d call around to antique shops.
“Got anything that looks like me, honey?” Rooney laughed, remembering Vaughn’s calls.
Talking to Vaughn, you came to understand something. She had a deep appreciation for the art and the artist who made it. That’s something that sprang from Vaughn being an artist herself.
“My mother looked down and said, ‘are you sure you don’t want to be a nurse?’” Vaughn told me in 2023. “I said, ‘no, momma. I wanna be a songwriter and a poet.’ People say, ‘Maggi, these books. You’ve written my life.’”
“Maggi had front porch books, not coffee table books,” Webb said.
“She was a poet of the people,” Rooney continued.
Vaughn took on prejudice in her work. She also wrote about all things she loved.
“She covered rural life, southern things,” Phillips said.
That writing carried her to become the poet laureate of Tennessee in 1995. The next year, she wrote Tennessee’s bicentennial poem.
“I gave her her last kiss the other day,” Webb said.
“I’m on the verge of tears,” Phillips added. “This will be a real gut punch.”
Asking around town, people seemed to agree on their favorite of Vaughn’s works.
“Is That You Mama?” Phillips said, naming one of Vaughn’s poems.
Webb read me an excerpt of the poem. It ended with these lines;
“Well, mama, I’m okay now. You tell the Lord I said hi. Was that you, mama, that just kissed me bye?”
“Maggi was a true original, and Bell Buckle was proud to call her our own,” Phillips said.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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