Oak Ridge Today

Updated: Man charged, waives extradition in Corwin death

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Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee (Photos courtesy San Bernardino County (California) Sheriff’s Department)

Note: This story was last updated at 9:30 p.m.

Information from WYSH Radio

The man arrested for killing a woman originally from Oak Ridge and dumping her body in a southern California mine shaft has been charged in her murder.

Christopher Brandon Lee, 24, was arrested Sunday night in Alaska in the death of 19-year-old Erin Corwin. The charges were announced Tuesday by the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office in California, which also filed what is called a special circumstance allegation of “lying in wait,” increasing the potential penalty to life without parole or death.

The decision on which penalty to seek will be made after prosecutors review all the evidence in the case.

Authorities also said Tuesday that Lee had been looking into how to dispose of a human body. Investigators also say .22-caliber fired casings and rebar were recovered with the body of Corwin and that the head stamp from the casings matched those on casings found in Lee’s vehicle and residence. [Read more…]

TBI: Roane officers justified in using deadly force

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Information from WYSH Radio

An investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has concluded that the shooting of an armed burglary suspect in Harriman on Tuesday was justified. Officers shot and killed 28-year-old Miranda Michelle Guy inside her home on Fairchild Street on Tuesday afternoon.

According to a joint press release from District Attorney General Russell Johnson, the Roane County Sheriff’s Office, and the Harriman Police Department, Guy pointed a handgun at the officers and was advancing on one of them when they opened fire. The preliminary autopsy showed that Guy was hit multiple times in her right arm, which was holding the gun, and her front torso.

Officials said that while a Harriman Police Department officer was speaking to witnesses of a burglary at a storage building in South Harriman, a white pickup truck drove by that the witnesses identified as the vehicle that the suspect in the break-in had been driving. The release said the officer could see items in the bed of the truck that matched the description of some of the stolen items. The officer ordered the truck to stop, but the driver, who was identified as Guy, sped up and drove away.

The officer started a pursuit, which was joined by a HPD investigator and two Roane County Sheriff’s Department deputies. The four officers followed Guy to her house, where they saw her run inside. The officers split up, with two going to the back of the house while the other two followed Guy inside through the front door. [Read more…]

Woman accused of pointing gun at officers charged with aggravated assault

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Anna King

Anna King

The Jonathan Lane woman who allegedly pointed a pistol at Oak Ridge police officers before they fired four shots at her was arrested on Tuesday night on three counts of aggravated assault, authorities said.

Anna Marie King, 46, remained jailed at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton on Thursday morning. Her bond has been set at $50,000.

Officers were dispatched to 123 Jonathan Lane just before midnight on August 2 for a welfare check on King. Her boyfriend reported that she was depressed and threatening to shoot herself, Oak Ridge Police Department Detective Kevin Craig said in affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court.

The boyfriend also said there were weapons in the home, Craig said.

Three ORPD officers—Leslie Miller, Field Training Officer Christopher Carden, and Kenneth Prickett—responded. They said they confronted King in her front yard, and she was holding a handgun to her throat and head, according to the warrants. [Read more…]

ORPD: Intoxicated man poses as ORHS student

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William Edward Lay

William Edward Lay

A 25-year-old Sunbright man who was intoxicated tried to “pass himself off” as an Oak Ridge High School student in at least two classrooms last week, the first week of school, before being stopped in a second floor hallway during a class change, authorities said.

William Edward Lay had obtained a student’s classroom schedule, but he had no identification and continuously gave School Resource Officer Sherrill Selby the wrong birth date, Social Security number, and other identifying information, according to arrest warrants filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court.

Selby, an Oak Ridge Police Department officer, said Lay was unsteady on his feet and fell into the wall several times. She had been called to investigate a report of a suspicious male walking around and into classrooms at ORHS.

“Defendant’s eyes were red and glassy looking,” Selby said. [Read more…]

Woman escapes injury, drives away from fake officer with knife

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Anderson County Sheriff Logo

A 49-year-old woman escaped injury on Monday night when she drove away from a man who pretended to be a police officer but pulled a knife after stopping her on Yarnell Road near Clinton, authorities said.

It’s the second report of a police impersonator in Anderson County this month.

The woman was pulled over by the man at about 9:45 p.m. Monday on Yarnell Road off East Wolf Valley Road, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Mark Lucas said.

“He approached the victim and asked for her driver’s license,” Lucas said. “He then pulled a knife, and she immediately drove away and called 911.”

In this case, the descriptions of both the suspect and his car are different from the previous incident. The suspect in the Monday night incident was described as a white male in his mid- or late-20s to mid-30s, six feet tall, 200 pounds, clean-shaven, with a muscular build and short dark brown hair. He reportedly spoke with a soft voice. The suspect was well-dressed wearing dark civilian clothing (not a uniform) and had a badge on his belt. The victim did not see a firearm, Lucas said. [Read more…]

Erin Corwin’s body found in Calif. mine shaft; suspect arrested in Alaska

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Erin Corwin with Horse

Erin Corwin, who was from Oak Ridge, was an animal lover who volunteered at a horse rescue near Twentynine Palms, California.

 

The body of Erin Corwin, a pregnant 19-year-old Oak Ridge native who had been missing in southern California since late June, was found 140 feet down a mine shaft on Saturday, authorities said Monday.

Corwin’s body, found with the help of video equipment at about 4:30 p.m. Saturday, was identified at 9:30 p.m. Sunday using dental records, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said.

A half-hour later, at 10 p.m. Sunday, Christopher Brandon Lee was arrested in Anchorage, Alaska, for the murder of Corwin, the Sheriff’s Department said. An autopsy has determined the death was a homicide.

The Desert Sun of Palm Springs, California, said Lee is a 24-year-old ex-Marine who lived next to Erin and her husband, Marine Corporal Jonathan Corwin, who is also from Oak Ridge, at a desert base in Twentynine Palms, California. Detectives believe that Lee and Erin Corwin were having an affair, and that Lee may have been afraid that his wife Nichole would discover his infidelity, the newspaper said.

Corwin vanished June 28 after telling her husband that she was going to Joshua Tree National Park south of Twentynine Palms. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge unveils three new fire engines on Sept. 5

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New Oak Ridge Fire Engines

 

The Oak Ridge Fire Department and Chief Darryl Kerley will unveil three new Sutphen fire engines during a September 5 ceremony.

The 3 p.m. ceremony will be at Fire Station 3, which is in central Oak Ridge at 333 Tuskegee Drive. Light refreshments will be served.

See this story for more information on the decision to buy the new trucks last fall.

Oak Ridge hit-and-run suspect crashes motorcycle in Knox County

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An Oak Ridge hit-and-run suspect is in the hospital after crashing his motorcycle on East Emory Road in Knox County this morning, authorities said.

The Knox County Sheriff’s Office was alerted by the Oak Ridge Police Department to be on the lookout for hit-and-run suspect James F. Mitchell, 43, of Oak Ridge, on Friday morning, according to the initial investigation.

A KCSO officer saw Mitchell traveling eastbound on West Emory Road at 7:42 a.m. The officer got behind Mitchell and activated his emergency equipment, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said. Mitchell tried to negotiate a curve too fast and ran off the right side of the road into a ditch at 9638 East Emory Road at 7:43 a.m. He was thrown from the motorcycle, authorities said. [Read more…]

DOE, ORNL, state conduct emergency preparedness exercise Aug. 20

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Sign

Emergency responders from the U.S. Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory—along with federal, state, and local emergency management personnel—will conduct an emergency exercise on Wednesday, August 20, at ORNL.

The public may observe emergency responders simulating response activities and performing environmental monitoring or sampling in the area surrounding the Oak Ridge Reservation. These activities are part of the exercise.

The exercise will begin at approximately 8 a.m. Eastern time and conclude around noon.

This event is one of a series of emergency exercises conducted regularly by the DOE facilities in Oak Ridge. The exercises test the ability of emergency personnel to respond quickly and effectively to emergency situations and ensure that the public, site employees and the environment would be protected in the event of an actual emergency at the facilities.

After two days in hospital, toddler dies from drowning, CPD says

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Anthony Hampton

Anthony Hampton (Photo courtesy Brenda Hood)

The two-year-old boy who apparently fell into a swimming pool at his grandparents’ home in Clinton on Tuesday morning died Thursday morning at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, authorities said.

Anthony Hampton had been in the neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU, at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in Knoxville, the Clinton Police Department said.

The CPD and Clinton Fire Department responded to the near-drowning on Melton Hill Circle in Clinton at about 8:40 a.m. Tuesday. Hampton was first taken to Methodist Medical Center in Oak Ridge and then transported to Children’s Hospital. He died at about 4 a.m. Thursday. [Read more…]

Motorcyclist dies in four-vehicle crash on Edgemoor Road

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Fatal Crash on Edgemoor Road

Edgemoor Road was closed for several hours near the Bull Run Fossil Plant on Wednesday evening as authorities investigated a four-vehicle crash that killed a motorcyclist.

 

CLAXTON—A Powell motorcyclist died Wednesday afternoon in a four-vehicle crash on Edgemoor Road in front of the Bull Run Fossil Plant, authorities said.

Kenneth Lubthisophon, 55, was riding east on Edgemoor Road at about 4:41 p.m. Wednesday when he hit the left rear of a car driven by a 54-year-old Knoxville woman who was slowing down for stopped traffic, the Tennessee Highway Patrol said.

Lubthisophon’s 1989 Honda G15 was then hit from behind by a pickup truck driven by a 25-year-old Clinton man, and Lubthisophon was thrown from the motorcycle into the westbound traffic lane, where he was hit by a second pickup truck driven by a 70-year-old Clinton man, according to a preliminary THP report.

Lubthisophon was wearing a helmet, the report said. [Read more…]

Pioneer man faces vehicular homicide charge in fatal crash on Hwy 61

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Shawn Earl Wright

Shawn Earl Wright

A Pioneer man has been arrested on a half-dozen charges, including vehicular homicide, for the October death of an Oneida man in a crash on Highway 61 at the on-ramp to I-75 North in Clinton.

Christopher Strunk, 32, of Oneida, died in the fatal crash on Friday morning, October 4. The Clinton Police Department reported that Strunk was a passenger in a Honda Civic driven by Shawn Wright, now 27, of Pioneer, WYSH Radio in Clinton reported at the time.

Wright now faces six charges: vehicular homicide, criminally negligent homicide, reckless aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, reckless driving, and failure to stop at a red light. He was indicted by an Anderson County grand jury on August 5 and arrested Tuesday. He remained jailed in the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton early Wednesday afternoon. [Read more…]