The following day, April 27, Fagan posted bail. At almost the exact same time, a mutual friend of Fagan and Oteri's attempted to check up on Oteri. The friend was not able to gain entrance into their home, so he contacted police. He informed them that the screen door was locked, the house looked like it had been turned upside down, and that he had knocked on the door repeatedly and Oteri did not answer.
Police arrived at the home and managed to get inside. There, they discovered Tommy Oteri dead, sitting in a pool of his blood. The friend informed police that Fagan was the one who made the call. As a result, police tracked the songwriter down still with his bail bondsmen. They then arrested Fagan.
Once in custody, Fagan vaguely remembered that he and Oteri had been having an argument around 9:00 p.m. on Saturday night. Apparently, both men had been drinking and Fagan took out a "4- to 6-inch Colt pocket knife" and cut Oteri's right wrist with it. According to Oteri's son, Brian, his father had difficulty moving around recently due to a fall that bruised his ribs. It is possible he was in too much pain from the previous injury to seek out help from a "wide laceration" across the wrist caused by his best friend of thirty years and roommate for ten years.
Fagan was arrested on Sunday night.
Fagan appeared in court last Thursday where he waived his right to a preliminary hearing. He has been officially charged with criminal homicide. Friends of the Oteri family actually attended the hearing in support of Fagan. They do not believe he intended to kill Tom Oteri.
"This is a situation [where] he's hurting just as bad as the family who is here in support of Rich as well," said Michael Haight, a friend of the Oteris and Fagan.
According to Nashville's News Channel 5, "Fagan has to pay a $20,000 bond, and the immediately go to Discovery Place in Burns, Tennessee, for rehabilitation for drugs and alcohol."
Rich Fagan's attorneys plan to argue that their client had no intention of killing his best friend, Tom Oteri.
Cheri Oteri, who had just completed filming on the set of the newest Jessica Simpson feature film, Major Movie Star, had no comment about her father's death.
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