MARYVILLE – Blount County Sheriff James L. Berrong announced that the four persons of interest who were being held in connection with the death of a Maryville man following an altercation Sunday have been released from the Blount County Detention Facility.
Based on preliminary results of today’s autopsy, as well as an investigation by the Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division, the two men and two women will not be criminally charged. Results of the autopsy revealed that Johnny Ray Ridge, age 41, of Reagan Mill Road, died from accidental or natural causes due to bleeding on the brain.
Following the altercation, Ridge was taken by Rural/Metro Ambulance Service to Blount Memorial Hospital, and then flown by Life Star to the University of Tennessee Medical Center where he died Sunday night.
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