Andersonville man indicted on murder charge in death of girlfriend’s mother

An Andersonville man has been indicted on a second-degree murder charge in the death of his girlfriend’s mother at a home on Lone Mountain Road in Anderson County in 2015.

William James McMillan, 50, was indicted by the Anderson County Grand Jury on March 7. He will be arraigned in Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court in Clinton on Friday.

McMillan is accused of fatally shooting Karen Zahrobsky, who was 66.

Authorities said McMillan, Zahrobsky, and Zahrobsky’s daughter, Christina Dixon, who was then 45, all lived at 460 Lone Mountain Road in Andersonville, where the shooting allegedly occurred at about 4:45 a.m. Wednesday, June 10, 2015.

Zahrobsky was dead when deputies arrived.

An arrest warrant filed after the shooting said McMillan and Zahrobsky were in the kitchen area of the home when McMillan “without regard for human life” pointed a 12-gauge shotgun at Zahrobsky’s head and pulled the trigger.

“During the interview following the incident, Mr. McMillan admitted to intentionally pulling the trigger on the shotgun, without provocation, causing the death of Ms. Zahrobsky,” according to the warrant, which was filed by John Hannon of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

The initial charges were first-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, and aggravated assault. Charges against McMillan were bound over, or sent to, the Anderson County Grand Jury for its consideration during a preliminary hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton on July 21, 2016.

The one-count second-degree murder indictment filed March 7 alleged that McMillan knowingly killed Zahrobsky.

In a statement after the shooting in June 2015, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Mark Lucas said sheriff’s investigators worked throughout the day and evening with agents from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation processing the crime scene and conducting interviews.

The TBI said Dixon, Zahrobsky’s daughter, called 911 to report a disturbance with her boyfriend at the home on Lone Mountain Road, and she said her mother was injured.

“When deputies arrived at the scene, they found the victim deceased from a gunshot wound,” the TBI said.

During the subsequent investigation, agents developed information that McMillan was the person responsible for Zahrobsky’s death, the TBI said.

The TBI obtained warrants, and McMillan was formally charged late that night, Lucas said.

The TBI said it assisted at the request of Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark.

McMillan is represented by Knoxville defense attorney Gregory P. Isaacs.