FAYETTEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against a man charged with five counts of first-degree murder in the slayings of his estranged wife, three members of her family and a family friend in southern Tennessee.

District Attorney General Charles Crawford said in paperwork filed Tuesday that the deaths last year included aggravating circumstances that make the defendant, Jacob Shaffer, eligible for the death penalty.

Shaffer's estranged wife, Tracie, her teenage son, her father, her brother and a 16-year-old neighbor were found slain in two homes in rural Fayetteville on July 18.

A man who was described as an acquaintance of Shaffer's was found beaten to death at a Huntsville, Ala., business, about 30 miles south. That case is being prosecuted separately.

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