TBI serves search warrant at Alabama home of truck driver charged with kidnapping

LOGAN, Ala. (WSMV) - TBI agents served a search warrant at the Alabama home of Roy Nellsch, the truck driver accused of kidnapping a Clarksville, TN, woman.

A News4 I-Team investigation revealed that a criminal court judge confirmed that a TBI agent found a large number of women’s bloody underwear inside Nellsch’s truck.

The police chief of Coopertown, TN, who arrested Nellsch, told the News4 I-Team that he saw blood inside the back compartment, the dashboard and sun visor of the truck.

TBI spokeswoman Susan Niland confirmed the agents were at 6081 County Road 940 on the execution of a search warrant as part of an ongoing investigation.

“As this remains a very active and open investigation, we’re not able to provide any specifics at this stage,” Niland said.

The discoveries inside the semi were made after a Clarksville woman said Nellsch picked her up on May 22 when she ran out of gas on the Kentucky/Tennessee border.

The woman stated in an affidavit that Nellsch handcuffed and struck her with a gun, saying he was going to rape her and keep her for days.

The woman said she managed to get one hand out of the handcuffs to escape from his semi, and then was able to alert police, providing them with a license plate number.

Coopertown Police Chief Tyler Haley found Nellsch driving west on Highway 49, and stopped the truck, and waited for backup.

Once other officers arrived, Haley ordered Nellsch out of the truck, who came out with his hands in the air.

After admitting that he had been to Clarksville, the location of the attempted kidnapping, Haley said Nellsch confirmed he had two guns in the cab of his truck.

Haley said he wanted to confirm the weapons were inside, and found one loaded weapon, along with blood, both in the back compartment and on the dashboard and visor.

Haley said as soon as he spotted the blood, he climbed out of the truck.

They called in investigators from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, who subsequently towed Nellsch’s truck back to the TBI Crime Lab at their headquarters in Nashville for further examination.

Nashville Judge Mark Fishburn signed a search warrant for the truck, after reading the affidavit and talking to TBI agent who said they found a large number of bloody women’s underwear inside the cab.

Fishburn said the agent confirmed that Nellsch allowed them to search the truck.

“I know that there was multiple pieces of women’s clothing. Part of the search - what they’re wanting to do - is DNA analysis of all the stuff that they had found during the consent search,” Fishburn said.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, as part of that search warrant, gives them the opportunity to begin running DNA analysis on the items they recovered from the truck.

Nellsch’s court-appointed attorney said he had no comment, and Nellsch remains in the Montgomery County Jail on the kidnapping charge.

As this story continues to develop, stay with News4′s Jeremy Finley on-air and online for updates.