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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.
The woman was deprived of food and medical care, the warrants said.
After she was killed, the defendants, Finnegan and Dishman, cut off body parts and broke ligaments and bones in order to put her body into a stand-up freezer, the warrants said. Moore called the mistreatment of the corpse “shocking and offensive.”
When Finnegan knew there would be an investigation, he moved the frozen decomposing body from the freezer and hid it under his bed, the warrants said. He allegedly cleaned the inside of the freezer to remove evidence.
Dishman, meanwhile, used “bleach and a swiffer” to clean up blood and other bodily fluids from the living room floors and bedroom floor, and she used bleach and the bathroom shower to clean the victim’s body of evidence, the warrants said.
It’s not clear when most of the alleged crimes occurred. The affidavits said they occurred on or after December 23, 2019.
The warrants said both Finnegan and Dishman admitted to their crimes after being read their Miranda rights.
They have each been charged with four felonies: first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence. Each also faces one additional felony charge: Finnegan has been charged with aggravated rape, and Dishman has been charged with aggravated sexual battery.
The Oak Ridge Police Department responded to the report of a possible homicide at the home on East Fairview Road at about 7:39 p.m. Wednesday.
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, according to a press release from the City of Oak Ridge on Thursday morning.
At 4:26 a.m. Thursday, a search warrant was served at the home with help from ORPD SWAT and members of the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force.
The 36-year-old woman who died was found during the search of the home.
Anyone with information that may help investigators is asked to call ORPD at (865) 425-4399. Crime tips can also be submitted online at http://oakridgetn.gov/department/ORPD/Home. Information can be given anonymously.
No court dates have been set yet for Finnegan and Dishman, according to court records Thursday night.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
You can contact John Huotari, owner and publisher of Oak Ridge Today, at (865) 951-9692 or [email protected]
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