Oak Ridge Today

Judge denies motion to reduce bond for Dishman, who could face death penalty

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Rebecca Dishman, one of two defendants in a series of gruesome alleged crimes, including murder, sex crimes, and kidnapping, is pictured above in a mugshot from the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office.

Note: This story was last updated at 11:45 p.m.

An Anderson County judge on Tuesday denied a motion to reduce the $1 million bond for Rebecca Dishman, and a prosecutor said the state could consider the death penalty in the “especially heinous” murder.

Dishman, 22, is one of two defendants charged with murder, sex crimes, kidnapping, and abuse of a corpse in a series of gruesome crimes allegedly committed against Jennifer Gail Paxton, 36, of Knoxville, in a home in east Oak Ridge sometime between December and August.

Dishman had a hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge on Tuesday afternoon. She was represented by defense attorney Paul Sexton.

Sexton said Dishman waived her right to be in court, and she did not appear to hear the discussion of her case. On Dishman’s behalf, Sexton asked Anderson County General Sessions Court Judge Roger Miller to reduce her bond.

“She’s a woman of limited means,” Sexton said, and there is no way she can afford to be released on bond.

Under the law, Dishman is entitled to a reasonable bond, Sexton said.

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Second COVID-19 case reported at Glenwood

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Glenwood-Elementary-School
Glenwood Elementary School in Oak Ridge is pictured above.

A second person at Glenwood Elementary School has tested positive for COVID-19, Oak Ridge Schools said Sunday. It’s the second case reported at the school on Sunday.

The person involved in the second case was last at the school on Wednesday, according to a letter to families from Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers. The school system learned of the positive test this weekend, he said.

Students and staff members who were potentially exposed have all been notified, and they will quarantine in accordance with Tennessee Department of Health guidelines, Borchers said.

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Person at Glenwood tests positive for COVID-19

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Glenwood-Elementary-School
Glenwood Elementary School in Oak Ridge is pictured above.

A person at Glenwood Elementary School has tested positive for COVID-19, Oak Ridge Schools said Sunday.

The person was last at the school on Thursday, according to a letter to families from Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers. The school system learned of the positive test this weekend, he said.

Students and staff members who were potentially exposed have all been notified, and they will quarantine in accordance with Tennessee Department of Health guidelines, Borchers said.

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New COVID-19 daily case average drops again in Anderson County

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A graph shows confirmed new cases of COVID-19 in Anderson County through Saturday, Aug. 15, 2020. (Image courtesy Tennessee COVID-19 Case Tracking Coronavirus-19 Outbreak Response Experts (CORE-19) at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville)

Although it has climbed back up some, the average number of new cases of COVID-19 per day in Anderson County fell by about 50 percent in the week that ended Tuesday.

It was the second consecutive week of a smaller number of new cases per day, on average, of COVID-19 in Anderson County.

It’s not clear what led to the drop in new cases per day or whether it might be related to the more widespread use of masks, including at businesses that started requiring them in the second half of July.

In the week that ended Tuesday, August 11, there was an average of 9.7 new cases of COVID-19 per day in Anderson County. That’s a level not seen since the first half of July, after the growth in COVID-19 cases had started to accelerate in the county.

The average 9.7 new cases per day last week was about 50 percent fewer cases per day than the average 18.6 new cases reported each day in the previous week, the seven-day period that ended Tuesday, August 4.

But since Tuesday, the average number of cases per day has climbed back up a bit to 12.2.

The highest average number of new cases per day, as tracked by Oak Ridge Today, was in the week ending Tuesday, July 28, when there were about 24.7 new cases per day. July appears to have been the worst month of the pandemic in Anderson County so far.

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TBI, DA: Police report they shot, killed man after he charged at them with knives

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Note: This story was last updated at 7:30 p.m.

Three Oak Ridge police officers reportedly shot at a man and he was struck and killed Saturday night after he allegedly charged at the officers with two knives, according to state officials.

The shooting was reported on Briar Road just before 9:30 p.m. Saturday, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

The man who allegedly had two knives and was shot and killed was Fred John Henry Arcera, 41.

The Oak Ridge Police Department had responded to a report of individual needing help.

“At some point during their interaction, Arcera reportedly came at the officers with the weapons, resulting in three officers firing shots, striking him,” the TBI said. “He was pronounced dead at the scene.  No officers were injured during the incident.”

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COVID cases reported at Woodland, Jefferson

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COVID-19 cases have been reported at Woodland Elementary School and Jefferson Middle School, school officials said this week.

The COVID-19 case at Woodland Elementary School was reported Thursday morning, and the case at Jefferson Middle School was reported Friday morning.

They are the seventh and eighth overall COVID-19 cases in Oak Ridge Schools and the sixth and seventh since July 15.

Oak Ridge Schools learned Thursday that a person at Woodland Elementary School had tested positive for COVID-19, Superintendent Bruce Borchers said in a letter to families on Thursday. The person has not been at Woodland since Friday, July 31, because he or she quarantined after a possible non-school exposure, Borchers said.

The potential exposure to students or staff was “extremely low,” the superintendent said.

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For members: Police say they found parts matching defendant’s car at fatal hit-and-run

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Christhian Ordonez-Alvarenza

Police officers investigating a hit-and-run collision that killed a pedestrian on Oak Ridge Turnpike on Tuesday morning said they found vehicle parts matching the defendant’s car at the crash site.

Shortly after the crash, police found parts of his car, a 2008 Honda Accord, in a trash can on the street at his home, according to affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge.

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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