Nashville stabbing suspect Michael Mosley tied to 2016 Cheatham County homicide suspects

New details from the criminal history of a Nashville homicide suspect highlight a pattern of connected assaults across Middle Tennessee.

Michael Mosley, 23, has been charged with homicide in connection with a double fatal stabbing in Nashville last weekend. He was arrested Wednesday at an empty home in Cheatham County.

Clayton Beathard, 22, and Paul Trapeni III, 21, were fatally stabbed Dec. 21 at The Dogwood, a bar on Division Street. Another man, identified by police as a 21-year-old University of Tennessee student from Franklin, survived the stabbing with injuries to his eye and arm and was recovering this week.

Mosley has also been charged in several other assaults reported in area counties over the past few years, some of which involved a couple tied to a 2016 fatal shooting outside Ashland City.

At the time of the fatal stabbings, Mosley was free on $5,000 bond while facing a felony assault charge for allegedly punching and kicking 37-year-old Mollie Baker at a West Nashville Walmart in December 2018, Davidson County court records show.

A woman by the same name was charged with second-degree murder in the 2016 death of Cheatham County man Gregory Jonathan Sanders. Her husband, Daniel Baker, was also charged with second-degree murder in that case, and had his own violent interaction with Mosley, court records show.

Sanders was shot while approaching a home on Gibbs Road, not far from the for-sale home on Petway Road where Mosley was discovered on Wednesday.

Court documents indicate the case against the Bakers is ongoing.

Jail fight targeted Daniel Baker

Earlier this year, Mosley was named by Cheatham County Sheriff's Office staff as an aggressor in a fight at the jail that targeted Daniel Baker.

At the time, Sheriff Mike Breedlove said he believed one of the aggressors, later identified in court documents as being Mosley and another man, was a relative of Sanders, and the fight may have been started in response to that fatal shooting.

Mosley was later charged with aggravated assault in connection to the fight.

Baker was transported to the hospital for treatment of injuries sustained in the conflict, court documents show.

In the aftermath of the fight, six prisoners were transferred to other jails in the region.

Breedlove declined to comment on the case Thursday, citing pending litigation.

Walmart assault involved shooting suspect

The other allegations against Mosley connected to the Baker family center on an incident that took place inside a Walmart in the 7000 block of Charlotte Pike in the early evening of Dec. 5, 2018.

Mosley was seen entering the Walmart and once inside he "proceeded to an area of the store, where he had seemingly been advised by phone, where the victim was currently shopping," according to court documents which identify that woman as Mollie Baker.

Mosley then charged at the victim, hit her in the face, knocked her to the ground and began to violently punch and kick the woman, according to court documents. Mosley also dragged the woman across the floor, punching her and kicking her in the face, prosecutors claim.

Mosley dropped a set of keys and ran out of the business, police said.

Investigators believe he might have used the keys as a weapon to injure the woman, according to court documents.

In addition the aggravated assault cases, Davidson County criminal court records show Mosley's criminal history includes aggravated burglary, attempted aggravated burglary and drug-related arrests and convictions on multiple occasions dating back to 2014.

Among his charges: Mosley was convicted in February 2018 on two counts of robbery for the armed robbery of three people on Edmonson Pike. In December 2017, Mosley was convicted on two counts of felony aggravated assault for stabbing a man and cutting a woman on Colt Drive. Mosley was also convicted of misdemeanor assault in March 2016 for squirting urine from a shampoo bottle on an employee at the Davidson County jail facility on Christmas Day in 2015.

Asked why Mosley remained free after a recent history of convictions for violent crimes, Aaron said that the "police department shares this community's frustrations."

Natalie Alund contributed to this story.

Reach reporter Mariah Timms at mtimms@tennessean.com or 615-259-8344 and on Twitter @MariahTimms.