MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WGNS News) - UPDATE: The hunt is now over for what appears to be a serial bank robber who, on Tuesday, allegedly robbed one bank and tried to rob another in both Lebanon and Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Lebanon Police and Murfreesboro Police have positively identified the suspect as 47-year-old George Treece of Kentucky.
On Tuesday, Treece is accused of trying to rob Ascend Federal Credit Union on Memorial Boulevard in Murfreesboro. However, the armed suspect did not manage to get away with any money and left the credit union empty-handed. Scroll down for photos.
In neighboring Wilson County, the suspect is believed to have had better luck. Authorities said Treece entered Truist Bank on West Main Street in Lebanon around 2:45 p.m. Tuesday, armed with a handgun. Truist Bank is located across the street from Ligon & Bobo Funeral Home. Detectives reported that the 47-year-old proceeded to rob the bank before fleeing with an undisclosed amount of cash. The man left the scene in a black pickup truck.
After police in Lebanon began investigating the robbery and detectives in Murfreesboro continued looking into the attempted robbery, Treece evidently managed to get farther away from the scenes of both crimes. Later that day, he was discovered in West Tennessee, where automated license plate readers, or LPRs, along with additional technology, tracked the suspect as he neared Jackson, Tennessee. Scroll down for photos.
Authorities confirmed that just before midnight Tuesday, Treece crashed his truck into a guardrail about 155 miles away from Murfreesboro, near Exit 108 off I-40. Scroll down for photos.
After the crash, the man still managed to elude police. He took off on foot before authorities had a chance to take him into custody. After fleeing the crash and running into a dense wooded area, a manhunt began. Troopers with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, along with assistance from additional agencies, spent about six hours searching for the man before pausing their efforts as daylight neared.
It was not until Wednesday that he was finally located and apprehended in the Jackson area, as confirmed around 1 p.m. by Larry Flowers, Murfreesboro’s Public Safety and Information Director. Flowers told WGNS in an email that Treece was caught in the area where agencies had been searching for him Tuesday night and into the early morning hours of Wednesday. Scroll down for photos.
Treece was arrested in Henderson County by the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office. He is now facing multiple charges in several jurisdictions.
In 2016, Farmers State Bank in Central City, Illinois, was robbed by a man named George David Treece, who at the time lived in Alabama. In 2017, Treece, who was then 38 years old, was convicted and federally sentenced to 115 months behind bars. However, he served only three years in prison before being released on supervised probation. See previous article HERE.
Photos below from the short-lived journey that began on Tuesday and
ended with an arrest on Wednesday (06/16/26 - 06/17/26).
DISCLAIMER: All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The arrest records or information about an arrest that are published or reported on NewsRadio WGNS and www.WGNSradio.com are not an indication of guilt or evidence that an actual crime has been committed.
