Wondering Where Jenelle Potter Is Now? Here's What We Know

Potter was convicted of killing Billy Payne and his fiancée Billie Jean Hayworth in 2012.

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Published Jan. 14 2026, 3:00 p.m. ET

A couple was found murdered in their Mountain City, Tenn., home, and when the police found the deceased couple, the mother was still holding her 7-month-old son in her arms. Both the mother, Billie Jean Hayworth, and her fiancé, Billy Payne, were shot in the head — execution style.

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A local woman, Jenelle Potter, was arrested and later convicted for the murders, but the story is even more complex and involves Potter's mother and father. The whole thing started over a feud on social media, and it ended in tragedy. As a documentary about the murders airs on ABC, folks want to know where Potter is today.

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Here's where Jenelle Potter now.

During an interview with 20/20, Potter said she'd moved to the rural Tennessee town in 2005, and that "people here do not like outsiders."

After meeting pharmacy clerk Tracy Greenwell, she became friends with her and her brother, Billy Payne. She also dated Tracy's cousin, Jamie Curd. The trouble started after Potter accused Billy and BIllie of harassing her on Facebook, and they stopped being friends on the platform.

Curd admitted after failing a polygraph test that Jenelle's father, Marvin "Buddy" Potter, killed the couple, and that he witnessed the crime. Marvin Potter told the police that the couple had threatened his family, "I've had my life threatened. My wife has been threatened. They've threatened to take Jenelle, cut her head off."

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The authorities later found that Jenelle had fooled her father and mother, Barbara, into believing a CIA agent was warning them about the couple in an attempt to goad her dad into the killings. The authorities later discovered that the supposed CIA agent's IP address came from the Potters' home.

Jenelle is serving her sentence at the Debra Johnson Rehabilitation Center in Nashville. She will remain incarcerated until 2069, per The Sun.

Billy Payne and Billie Jean Hayworth were found dead inside their home.

Billy and Billie were found dead on Jan. 31, 2012, by a family friend. Both were shot in the head, and Billie was still holding her baby when they were found. The baby was unharmed. Billy also had his throat slashed, and the investigation found that Jenelle had sent hundreds of fake messages posing as a CIA agent, claiming her family was in danger from the couple. Jamie Curd admitted to shooting Billie, while Mr. Potter killed Billy. Jenelle and Barbara were also arrested as conspirators.

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The women each were sentenced to two life terms in prison, and Jamie Curd took a plea deal and was sentenced to 25 years without parole. Jenelle's dad was convicted and sentenced to two life prison terms.

Prosecutor Dennis Brooks said Potter pretended to be a CIA agent on social media just to be "hateful."

"Social media allowed Jenelle Potter to be someone that she wasn't," he said. "She could assume a different identity and be as hateful as she wanted to be."

Both Barbara and her daughter deny they took part in the murders.

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