CENTRE — The Post has received confirmation from Cherokee County Sheriff Jeff Shaver and Centre Police Chief Kirk Blankenship that a "person of interest" in the Nov. 28 death of a 32-year-old Cedar Bluff woman has been apprehended.  

Vinnie Leroy Keaton, 37, has been located and is being questioned by authorities in Tennessee, Shaver told The Post around 11:45 a.m. Shaver said investigators from Cherokee County have been in the Dunlap, Tenn. area since yesterday assisting with the search for Keaton, after a car he was reportedly seen in was found abandoned alongside the roadway.

Keaton had been sought since Wednesday, after the body of Melissa Leann Hudgins was found in a storage area inside the Centre campus of Gadsden State Community College. According to reports, both Keaton and Hudgins worked for a contractor that provided services to the college. 

Gadsden State Cherokee was closed Wednesday while investigators from several area departments assisted Centre police officers in conducting an investigation around the undisclosed interior location where the victim's body was located. The campus reopened Thursday.

Additional details are scarce, as local law enforcement officials have been guarded with their release of facts.

However, according to a report broadcast Thursday by a TV station in Chattanooga, Tenn., deputies from the Sequatchie (Tenn.) Sheriff’s Office found a car registered to Hudgins abandoned along the roadway near Dunlap, Tenn., around midnight Wednesday. After searching the vehicle and surrounding area, officers found several items, including a photo ID security badge belonging to Keaton, which helped prompt the search.

Additional reports from other sources indicate Keaton was seen driving Hudgins’s car around lunchtime Wednesday, hours after Hudgins's body was discovered. 

WEIS Radio News reported on its website Friday afternoon that Keaton had waived his right to extradition and was being transported back to Cherokee County.

A candlelight vigil for the victim is reportedly planned for 7 p.m. Friday night on the Gadsden State campus in Centre. Participants are asked to bring their own candles.

The Post will have a full report on the latest facts in our Dec. 3 print edition.