Joshua Mincy

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The man who was found with a woman's body in the trunk of his car after crashing on Norcross Road on Friday is a validated gang member with past criminal charges in Hamilton County.

The Chattanooga Police Department said officers responded to the single-car crash on the 4200 block of Norcross Road, just south of the intersection with Ely Road, at 1:43 p.m. Friday.

Police found Joshua Mincy, 25, running away and detained him for questioning.

Investigators noticed blood on the rear bumper of the car. When they opened the trunk they discovered the body of Tammy Hall, 47, who appeared to have been shot, court records show. A K-9 unit also found a Bersa .380 handgun in a creek near the crash scene.

Several witnesses identified Mincy as the driver of the vehicle, according to the police affidavit. One witness said he was traveling south on Norcross Road when he saw a dark-colored sedan leave the roadway and crash. Mincy also admitted to police he was in the car during the accident.

He has been charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse, among other charges, according to the affidavit.

Although Mincy is a gang member, a CPD spokeswoman said "this incident does not appear to be gang motivated."

Times Free Press records show Mincy was charged with two counts of aggravated rape, among other offenses, in connection with an incident involving his girlfriend in 2011.

Mincy, then 19, was accused of raping his girlfriend and paying another woman $35 to beat her up.

According to a police report, he took the woman to a home in the 4700 block of Metro Park Lane where he argued with her for most of the night.

The next day he accused her of sleeping with other men. He struck and raped her before paying the other woman to come over and assault her as well, the report said. After that beating he raped her again, binding and gagging her with a sock by strapping a belt around her head, according to the police report.

Mincy's mother came to the home and they started arguing, the report said. Meanwhile, the victim freed herself and ran out the front door and down the street with the other woman.

Mincy chased them but gave it up, went back to the home and smashed out the windows of a parked van, police said. Officers had to use a stun gun to take him into custody and then he kicked the door frame of a patrol car so hard it bent, the report said.

His girlfriend, who dated him for five months before the incident, was taken to Erlanger.

Hall's death marks the eighth homicide in Chattanooga in 2017, the same number to date as in 2016. By the end of 2016 the city saw a total of 32 people killed, more than any other year since 2001.

Mincy is being held at the Hamilton County Jail downtown, but officials there said Saturday afternoon he did not have a bond set. His first court appearance is before General Sessions Judge Lila Statom on April 17.

Contact staff writer Emmett Gienapp at egienapp@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6731. Follow him on Twitter @emmettgienapp.