"I had decided they were gonna leave because I was scared the police would come to my house," she testified. Dr. Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan testified that Newsom, 23, was shot and would have been dead when his body was set on fire. The medical examiner had just begun to describe were the most significant injuries located in the vaginal region when Varlan delayed her testimony. Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom in Knoxville, Tennessee. A journal was recovered after the arrests of Thomas, Cobbins, and Coleman. A beautiful, young couple carjacked and after hours (longer for Channon) of torture, repeated rapes of both, then brutally murdered. "They told me thank you, gave me a hug and left," she testified. The 32-year-old was convicted of facilitation of first-degree murder in the deaths of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom. The autopsy report said that Shanann had a "history of being reported missing and subsequently found unresponsive in obvious state of death in a shallow grave." The cause of death was. He saw four black men in the car. I had one HELL OF AN ADVENTURE since I've been in the big T.N. [21], Blackwood set retrials for between June and November 2012, pending appeals, and set bail at $1 million for Coleman, the only defendant whose sentence had the possibility of parole. But I love the fun adventures [and] lessons that I've learned. When they arrived, they saw an SUV with a female in the driver's seat. According to Cobbins, Davidson took the woman into a bedroom once they arrived at the residence, and Boyd drove away with the man. On March 20, 2018, eleven years after the murders, a Knox County grand jury returned a thirty-six-count indictment charging Eric DeWayne Boyd with first-degree felony murder, first-degree premeditated murder, especially aggravated robbery, especially aggravated kidnapping, and aggravated rape in the murders. [7][34][154], Channon Christian's father, Gary Christian, speaks at churches proclaiming how, in Spring 2017, he asked God to restore him from his pervasive anger. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. At around 8:00 pm, Christian's friend went to the party, and Christian stayed behind and waited for Newsom to pick her up. Christian also did not attend work. Cobbins denied having any sexual intercourse with the female victim. He also told Russo it's possible Hayhurst may have been unconscious, because the autopsy revealed blunt-force trauma to the head. Based on crime-scene photos, he would not have been able to see the kitchen from the front porch doorway. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. There, they reportedly shot himmultiple times. Privacy Policy. On Monday, November 12, I drove 250 miles to Knoxville, Tennessee to attend the retrial of Vanessa Coleman for the facilitation of the rape and murder of Channon Christian. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. ON January 6, 2007, 15 years ago this week, a young White couple, Christopher Newsom and his girlfriend Channon Christian, went to visit a friend in Knoxville, Tennessee. Davidson claimed he saw the victims tied up in the back seat, did not want any part of it, and left to smoke marijuana. [46][47][72] In addition to the sperm found on Christian's body, Davidson's sperm was found on Christian's jeans while Cobbins' sperm was found on her camisole, sweater, and jeans. Knoxville: Directed by Jeffrey Woods. She was worried it was me. Manage Settings The pair were abducted from the Washington Ridge apartment complex in Knoxville, Tennessee. The fourth slaying suspect, Cobbins' girlfriend, Vanessa Coleman, was nowhere in sight, she testified. 23. he asked Boyd in the videotaped interview. [13][14][15][16] Vanessa Coleman was convicted of facilitating the crimes and sentenced to 53 years. [116][140], Cobbins and Thomas were originally incarcerated at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. Hugh Christopher Newsom, Jr., 23, and his girlfriend Channon Gail Christian were both brutally murdered after being kidnapped early on the morning of January 7, 2007. The details of the horrific events, along with the plight of the bills will follow. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ordered by a judge for a defendant charged with being. Further, Mr. Newsom had been sodomized and was not wearing pants. She said she did not know Davidson as well as she knew Boyd. KPD Officer Ed Kingsbury testified Boyd was nabbed two days later and eventually admitted to helping Davidson hide by breaking into a vacant house on Reynolds Street. The sentencing judge, Richard Baumgartner, one of Knox County's three Criminal Court judges, was forced to resign from the bench in March 2011, having admitted to drug addiction and purchasing prescription pain medication from convicts. Specifically, he sentenced her to 25 years for the facilitation of Christian's murder, six years for the facilitation of kidnapping, and four years for the facilitation of rape. In January 2016, Thomas appealed to the United States Supreme Court[120] but the court did not agree to hear the case. By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel. The Newsoms hope . Background. After high school, he attended Pellissippi State Technical Community College and became a carpenter. Knoxville investigators did not find Christian until the following Tuesday. [61], On January 11, Thomas, Cobbins, and Coleman were arrested in Lebanon, Kentucky. On Saturday, January 6, 2007, Christian and Newsom planned to go for dinner together and attend a friend's party. The assailants brought him from the vehicle and into the house while he was bound. If you want to know what they look like, Google them. "Walking up and down main street of Ridgebrook (Apartments), just drinking, smoking and drinking and smoking weed, that's all I do every day," he said. [24][115][116], In 2014 the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals denied Coleman's request for a new trial and upheld her sentence. Three days later, the body of his 21-year-old girlfriend, Channon Christian was found stuffed inside a trash can in a nearby. The thugs responsible for this crime are: The murders did not receive as much media attention as they should have, partly because the rape story at Duke University took precedence.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'truecrimediva_com-large-leaderboard-2','ezslot_11',112,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-truecrimediva_com-large-leaderboard-2-0'); I REFUSE to put pictures of the killers in this post. 'I don't know what's going on. August 2009, Rome was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Channon & facilitation of murder in connection to the death of Chris; he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Starting on January 6, 2007, from a Saturday night until Monday (when Chris's body was found burned atop railroad tracks) and Tuesday (when police found Channon's body in a garbage can in the home), it was a chamber of so much violence even experienced prosecutors fainted when viewing the crime scene photos. The following night, she had another date, this one ending in sex, she testified. Boyd's cousin, Kevin Armstrong, who is the brother of another cousin whose testimony implicated Boyd in the slayings, reluctantly testified that Boyd called him to come to Lightfoot's apartment on the night of Jan. 9. Let's talk about adventures! He described the Jan. 7, 2007, encounter between the carjacking suspects and slain couple as entirely random. The police eventually discover their raped and brutally beaten bodies and trace the murders to five black suspects setting off racial . Then, the men hogtied her with strips of fabric from a bedding set. According to the FBI, African-Americans accounted for 55.9% of all homicide offenders in 2019, with whites 41.1%, and "Other" 3.0% in cases where the race was known. [20] He was immediately sentenced to life in prison by the judge, who stated that a life sentence was automatic for the murder conviction. [119] No. 08-6402 . When none of Christian's friends and family heard from her, they became worried and alerted the authorities. Then, they covered his head with a sweatshirt that they fastened around his neck with shoestrings. Lomonaco next turned his attention to Sutton, who he contends is just as guilty as Boyd is alleged to be in hiding a killer. Medical examiners determined Christian was alive when the assailants placed her in plastic trash bags. Armstrong insisted he could not remember what they talked about if anything. With Bill Graves, Kendra Maples, Scott Brooks, Channon Christian. You took my opportunity to hold her child, my grandbaby. Kicking her time and christopher autopsy report or at this world right above my comments are not edit took the weight. The assailants lit his body on fire to cover up their tracks. That changed how I acted.". "They weren't able to carjack them, so they ordered them to drive," Boyd said in the statement. It's not a black-and-white issue. "It appeared to be contact, which means the muzzle of the gun had touched the head," she said. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}355928N 835427W / 35.99113N 83.907514W / 35.99113; -83.907514, Channon Gail Christian, aged 21, and Hugh Christopher Newsom Jr., aged 23, were from Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. "He started telling me it was his house," she said. [23], In June 2012, Judge Blackwood again granted new trials for Davidson, Cobbins, and Thomas, basing his decision on the "13th juror rule". Update: She wasdenied again in December 2020. [98] The jurors unanimously found Davidson should receive the death penalty on the four capital charges, two first-degree felony murder charges, and the two premeditated first-degree murders of Christian and Newsom. Medical examiners concluded they also assaulted him. "[17], The defendants in the four state cases from the 2000s all appealed their convictions. Upon discovering the corpses of Christopher Newsom, 23, and his girlfriend, Channon Christian, 21, on January 7 and 8, 2007, respectively, Knoxville, Tennessee authorities stonewalled the media as to the cause of death and the bodies' condition. [111][112], In May 2012, the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned Blackwood's ruling ordering new trials for Cobbins, Davidson, and Thomas, saying that a trial judge's misconduct outside the courtroom does not necessarily require a new trial unless the misconduct is shown to have affected the trial proceedings, but that its decision "should not be construed as condoning or excusing" Baumgartner's misconduct. [3][7], Channon Gail Christian (born April 29, 1985, in Nacogdoches, Texas) moved from Louisiana to Tennessee with her family in 1997. She left, but not before he gave her a bag of clothing and a ring. Theassailantsset fire to the scene. The assailants observed Christian and Newsom standing close to Christian's vehicle in an embrace. NEWSOM, CHRIS - age 23 of Halls, went to be with the Lord Sunday, January 7, 2007. In her initial trial, Coleman was acquitted of all charges in the murder of Christian's boyfriend, Christopher Newsom. Christian was then hog-tied and covered with several bags before she was placed in a disposal bin, where she slowly suffocated to death, Mileusnic-Polchan testified. On appeal, Boyd alleges 1. [18][19] He was convicted on state level charges over a decade later in 2019. Davidson and Boyd "basically carjacked them" and ordered Cobbins to drive back to Chipman Street. Four black males and one black female were arrested and charged in the case. 168.119.37.100 "It may have started out as a carjacking, but what it developed into was blacks hating whites. 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