Keith Churchill

Law enforcement officials are continuing their investigation into a multifaceted case involving a Murfreesboro man accused of breaking into at least a dozen homes in the Middle Tennessee area.

More than $25,000 worth of stolen property was recovered Sept. 21 after Keith Churchill, 31, was apprehended following a crash during a two-county pursuit, according to officials with the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office.

Churchill has since been charged with two counts of felony theft in connection with the case.

He is also facing charges of evading and resisting arrest, as a result of the pursuit that ended after crashing his vehicle near the intersection of Couchville Pike and Weakley Lane near the Wilson County line.

“Items in his vehicle linked him to one burglary that occurred in our county,” Detective Jim Tramel said Friday during a press conference. “Other items in the vehicle led to a burglary that had just occurred in Wilson County.”

Tramel said the property found inside his vehicle was brought back to the Sheriff’s Office, where detectives from Rutherford and Wilson counties, as well as the Murfreesboro Police Department, identified property that had been reported stolen in several different burglaries.

During a subsequent search of his home on Pecan Ridge Drive, he said authorities also discovered numerous stolen items, including electronics, instruments, jewelry, antiques, guns and collectable knives.

“We have been able to connect him to 13 burglaries at this time,” Tramel said.

He said more charges are pending in connection with the property recovered at Churchill's home.

Tramel said many of those items were stolen during burglaries that occurred in Rutherford and Wilson counties, some of which date back to June.

“We were under the assumption the same person was involved in several of these burglaries,” Detective Steve Brown said, “but we had no idea it would snowball the way it did.”

In total, authorities believe Churchill is responsible for nearly 30 burglaries.

Capt. David Haley, who is a part of the Investigative Services Division, said all of the law enforcement agencies would continue working to identify and return the recovered property, noting the detectives and deputies involved in the case should be commended.

“Investigators have been working (on this case) for several weeks,” he said. “This was a joint effort in which leads were developed and agencies worked together, and for that, we are all thankful.”