Oak Ridge Today

Fire chief leaving ORFD to become teacher for state

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Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley

Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley is leaving the Oak Ridge Fire Department on Friday, August 21, and he will become a full-time fire service instructor and coordinator for the State of Tennessee, a press release said.

Kerley has 43 years of active fire service with four different fire departments, the press release said. He was fire chief of three of those departments for 22 years.

Besides serving his last day as fire chief in Oak Ridge on Friday, August 21, Kerley will mark another milestone that day: It will be the last day of his six-year appointment to the Tennessee Commission on Firefighter Standards and Education.

“Serving as fire chief for the important and historical City of Oak Ridge and being appointed to the Fire Commission by Governor Bill Haslam have been the highlights of my professional career,” Kerley said in the press release. “It truly has been an honor and privilege to serve as fire chief of such a great city and to be part of the development of the national park at the K-25 site and the K-25 History Center. This is one of the finest fire departments I’ve ever been associated with and has some of the best-trained people in the State of Tennessee.”

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Suspect identified in fatal hit-and-run

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Christhian Ordonez-Alvarenza

The suspect in the fatal hit-and-run crash on Tuesday morning has been identified as Christhian Ariel Ordonez-Alvarenza, 28, of Oak Ridge, a city spokesperson said Tuesday evening.

He was detained shortly after the crash and later charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving a death, driving while unlicensed, filing a false police report, and tampering with evidence, the City of Oak Ridge said in a press release.

He was jailed in the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton on Tuesday night.

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Victim identified in fatal hit-and-run crash

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The Oak Ridge Police Department investigates a deadly hit-and-run crash involving a pedestrian between Brussels Road and Bogola Road on Oak Ridge Turnpike on Tuesday morning, Aug. 11, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The victim of the fatal hit-and-run crash in east Oak Ridge on Tuesday morning has been identified as Donny L. McGhee, 48, of Knoxville.

McGhee’s last known address was on East Magnolia Avenue, the City of Oak Ridge said.

The deadly crash was reported at about 7 a.m. Tuesday on Oak Ridge Turnpike between Brussels Road and Bogola Road.

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Police investigating fatal hit-and-run involving pedestrian on Turnpike

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The Oak Ridge Police Department investigates a deadly hit-and-run crash involving a pedestrian between Brussels Road and Bogola Road on Oak Ridge Turnpike on Tuesday morning, Aug. 11, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The Oak Ridge Police Department is investigating a deadly hit-and-run crash involving a pedestrian on Oak Ridge Turnpike on Tuesday morning.

Police received a 911 call about the fatal hit-and-run at about 7 a.m. Tuesday. It was reported between Brussels Road and Bogola Road in east Oak Ridge.

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Bond for Finnegan set at $1 million in murder, rape, kidnapping case

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Sean Finnegan

Note: This story contains graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

Bond for Sean Finnegan was set at $1 million on Monday. It’s the same bond his co-defendant, Rebecca Elizabeth Dishman, received on Friday.

Finnegan, 52, and Dishman, 22, are charged with murder, sex crimes, kidnapping, and abuse of a corpse after a 36-year-old woman, Jennifer Gail Paxton, was allegedly tortured, raped, and strangled, and her body was allegedly cut and broken before being stuffed into a freezer in a home in east Oak Ridge.

Finnegan has been charged with five felonies after the Oak Ridge Police Department responded to a homicide report at the home on East Fairview Road on Wednesday night and found Paxton’s body during a search of the home early Thursday. The five felony charges against Finnegan are first-degree murder, aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence.

Dishman has also been charged with five felonies: first-degree murder, aggravated sexual battery, aggravated kidnapping, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence.

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Victim identified, bond set at $1 million for Dishman

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Rebecca Dishman

Note: This story contains graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

Bond was set at $1 million on Friday for Rebecca Elizabeth Dishman, one of two Oak Ridge defendants charged with first-degree murder, sex crimes, and kidnapping after a 36-year-old woman was allegedly tortured, raped, and strangled, and her mutilated body was stuffed into a freezer.

The identity of the victim, Jennifer Gail Paxton, hadn’t initially been released because authorities wanted to ensure that family members had been notified of her death. On Friday night, the City of Oak Ridge said Paxton’s family had been notified.

Dishman, 22, one of the two defendants, has been charged with five felonies after Paxton’s death: first-degree murder, aggravated sexual battery, aggravated kidnapping, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence.

Her co-defendant, Sean Finnegan, 52, has also been charged with five felonies: first-degree murder, aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence.

Finnegan could have his bond set Monday, according to records in Anderson County General Sessions Court.

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After May diagnosis, ECC employee still tests positive for COVID, but cleared to return to work

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A staff member at Oak Ridge Schools Extended Child Care was diagnosed with COVID-19 in late May, and on Monday, August 3, the employee still tested positive, Superintendent Bruce Borchers said.

A physician has cleared the staff member to return to work, Borchers said in a letter to families on Friday.

“The physician said that a person will likely continue to test positive several months after the initial virus, and that the individual is no longer contagious,” Borchers said.

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15 employees, 1 patient test positive for COVID at NHC

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NHC HealthCare of Oak Ridge is pictured above in August 2020.

Fifteen employees and one patient have tested positive for COVID-19 at NHC HealthCare, a nursing home in Oak Ridge.

NHC reported the positive test results and outcomes on its website.

The nursing home said the one patient who tested positive has recovered, and five of the 15 employees have recovered.

The patient was not hospitalized, NHC HealthCare said, and the nursing home has not reported any deaths among the 15 employees and one patient who tested positive.

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Total of 21 residents, two staff tested positive for COVID at The Groves

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The Groves at Oak Ridge, an assisted living facility on Emory Valley Road, is pictured above on Friday evening, July 24, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A total of 21 residents and two staff members tested positive for COVID-19 at The Groves at Oak Ridge, and two residents have died, an executive said Wednesday.

“Our thoughts and prayers go to their loved ones,” said Hollie Bailey, a registered nurse and regional director of operations and clinical services for Navion Senior Solutions. The Groves, an assisted living center on Emory Valley Road, is part of Navion Senior Solutions.

Bailey said 19 of the 21 residents have recovered from COVID-19, and three were set to be discharged from a hospital this week for physical therapy and strengthening before returning to The Groves.

The two staff members who tested positive have both recovered, Bailey said.

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New daily COVID case average declines in Anderson County

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A graph shows confirmed new cases of COVID-19 in Anderson County through Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020. (Image courtesy Tennessee COVID-19 Case Tracking Coronavirus-19 Outbreak Response Experts (CORE-19) at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville)

The seven-day average of new daily cases of COVID-19 in Anderson County fell Tuesday, a reversal of a trend that had been in place since at least late June.

Still, the average number of new daily cases remained high, and it was higher than it has been in all but the previous week. And it’s not clear yet if the downward trend will continue.

The most recent seven-day average, in the week ending Tuesday, was 18.6 new COVID-19 cases per day. The highest it’s been, the week before, was 24.7. In late June, the county had an average of 3.43 new cases of COVID-19 per day.

Another trend that has reversed, at least for now: The number of active cases in the county fell four days in a row. It was 255 on Thursday. That was down more than 30 cases from a peak of 289 active cases on Sunday. Active cases are total cases minus recoveries and deaths.

In other potentially good news, the daily positivity rate, which measures the percentage of people who test positive for COVID-19 out of those who are tested, has fallen for at least two weeks.

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Warrants: Woman tortured, raped before being killed

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Sean Finnegan

Note: This story contains graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

The 36-year-old woman found dead in an Oak Ridge home early Thursday had been lured there with the promise of a place to stay, according to arrest warrants.

But once at the home on East Fairview Road, she became the victim of a series of gruesome crimes, including murder, according to the warrants, which were filed by Oak Ridge Police Department Sergeant Marvell Moore.

The woman was held against her will, tortured, and raped before she was killed, the warrants said.

She was chained to a bed and shackled with a dog collar, said the warrants, which were filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge. She was struck on the head and an arm with a baseball bat so she wouldn’t resist or try to escape the attacks, and her arms were bound with zip ties, the warrants said.

Once she was incapacitated, the two defendants in the case, Sean Finnegan, 52, and Rebecca Dishman, 22, both of Oak Ridge, repeatedly raped her before strangling her, causing her to die, the warrants said.

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Two suspects in custody after apparent homicide

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Two suspects are in custody after a homicide was reported on East Fairview Road on Wednesday, the Oak Ridge Police Department said.

Officers responded to a possible homicide at the home at about 7:39 p.m. Wednesday, a press release said.

Members of the ORPD Criminal Investigation Division and representatives of the Seventh Judicial District Attorney General’s Office worked through the night to investigate and were able to identify two suspects, the press release said.

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