Springfield authorities have confirmed a leg found near a creek in July belongs to a man accused in a wrongful death lawsuit, filed a month before the severed appendage was discovered, of murdering a mother and daughter at the center of one of Robertson County's most prolific cold cases.

Springfield spokesperson Zachary Clark said in an Aug. 25 email that decomposed leg remains found July 4 at Sulphur Fork Creek belonged to 68-year-old Joseph Frank Benton. The remains were found about 10 miles from Benton's Owens Chapel Road home.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation confirmed with The Tennessean on Aug. 25 that they made the identification through a DNA analysis. Joseph Benton's DNA was found through the nationwide Combined DNA Index System after he pleaded guilty to one count of posse

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