Grandmother facing death penalty in murder case indicted on new child abuse charges

An Oak Ridge grandmother who is already facing the death penalty and charged with first-degree murder in the death of her toddler granddaughter has been indicted on nine new counts of aggravated child abuse, aggravated child neglect, and aggravated child endangerment in cases involving three other children, court records said.

Valerie Stenson, 49, of Teller Village Apartments, was indicted and arrested last year in the April 17, 2011, death of Manhattan Inman. The child was found dead in a home on Teller Village Lane, and an Anderson County grand jury indicted Stenson for first-degree murder and four counts of aggravated child abuse and neglect in 2012.

The new indictments were filed Sept. 3. They include four counts of aggravated child abuse, two counts of aggravated child neglect, and three counts of aggravated child endangerment. The offenses allegedly occurred between April 15, 2010, and April 15, 2011, and all three victims are under 18, the indictments said.

On Monday, the Anderson County Circuit Court Clerk’s Office said Stenson was arraigned Oct. 4 on the new charges, and she has a Dec. 9 court hearing.

Her murder trial had been scheduled for February 2014, but it’s not clear if the new charges could delay the trial.

In a death penalty notice last year, Anderson County District Attorney General Dave Clark said aggravating circumstances in the murder case included:

• It was committed against someone younger than 12 by someone older than 18.
• It was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel “in that it involved torture or serious physical abuse beyond that necessary to produce death.”

Stenson remains jailed at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton. Her bond has been set at $1.075 million.