Two suspects are in custody after a homicide was reported on East Fairview Road on Wednesday, the Oak Ridge Police Department said.
Officers responded to a possible homicide at the home at about 7:39 p.m. Wednesday, a press release said.
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, the press release said.
[Read more…]
KNOXVILLE—An Anderson County man who has been convicted of two homicides and has been charged in state court with the attempted murder of a deputy was found guilty in federal court on Friday of gun and drug crimes that have potential sentences of life in prison.
A 12-person jury deliberated for about two hours Friday morning before reaching a unanimous verdict on the four federal charges.
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Note: This story was updated at 10:45 a.m. Nov. 26.
An argument between neighbors ended with a fatal shooting in Rocky Top on Saturday morning, and one man has been charged with criminal homicide, according to Anderson County court records.
The shooting was reported just before 8 a.m. Saturday on Willow Lane in Rocky Top (the former Lake City).
An arrest warrant filed after the shooting said the man charged with criminal homicide, George Michael Patterson, 64, had been arguing with his neighbor, David Ray Roach Jr., 43, in front of Patterson’s home. Roach was initially in his vehicle during the argument, parked in the roadway, the warrant said.
[Read more…]
The investigation of the death of an Oak Ridge man in an apartment in December 2014 remains active and ongoing, a state law enforcement official said Wednesday.
The death of Thomas Steven Thrasher Jr. is being investigated as a homicide. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Tennesssee Bureau of Investigation at (800) TBI-FIND.
In response to questions, TBI spokesperson Leslie Earhart said she could not discuss any potential evidence in the case, including whether a suspect has been identified.
[Read more…]
Ashley Marie Ann Braden
CLINTON—A Clinton woman pleaded guilty Thursday to a homicide charge in the death of her three-year-old son in a two-vehicle crash in Oak Ridge in January 2017.
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The Tennessee Supreme Court has again denied an attempt to appeal the homicide conviction of Lee Harold Cromwell, who was found guilty of killing a Knoxville man in a fatal crash in a crowded parking lot after fireworks in Oak Ridge in 2015.
The most recent denial of the appeal petition was filed by the Tennessee Supreme Court in Knoxville on May 13.
Cromwell had first petitioned to appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court in August. In a one-sentence order in November, the court denied the application.
In a one-page motion filed May 6, Cromwell, who represented himself and called himself a “natural man,” asked the Tennessee Supreme Court to revisit the appeal application that was previously denied.
[Read more…]
Charles Edward Mason
CLINTON—The Anderson County man charged with attempted murder after allegedly pointing a gun at a deputy and pulling the trigger twice in April has previously pleaded guilty to homicides in Kentucky and Tennessee.
The first homicide conviction was in Knox County, Kentucky, in 1994. The second was in Anderson County, Tennessee, in 2010. The defendant, Charles Edward Mason, now 51, received a nine-year sentence in the first case and a seven-year sentence in the second. He had been accused of shooting a man with a pistol in the first case, the one in Kentucky, according to Knox County court records. He reportedly stabbed a man in the Anderson County case 15 years later.
When he was charged with attempted murder in Anderson County this year, Mason was on probation in a different case involving drug and driver’s license violations. He had pleaded guilty in January to possessing more than 0.5 grams of methamphetamine for resale and driving on a revoked or suspended license. He had received a 10-year sentence, and he had agreed to be declared a habitual motor vehicle offender as well, according to Anderson County court records.
Now, he is facing 24 new charges in Anderson County, including two counts of attempted first-degree murder, eight counts of aggravated assault, three counts of aggravated kidnapping, and three drug charges, among other counts.
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A Clinton man was charged with two counts of homicide and one count of driving under the influence after a fatal two-vehicle crash on Clinton Highway on Friday, authorities said.
The two felony homicide counts filed against Timothy James Gribble, 36, are vehicular homicide by intoxication and vehicular homicide by recklessness, according to Anderson County court records.
His DUI, a misdemeanor, is an alleged second offense, according to court records.
The two-vehicle crash was reported at about 5:27 p.m. Friday at the Clinton Highway intersection with Shepherd Lane, according to a fatality report by the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
The head-on collision killed Robert J. West, 64, of Harriman, the THP report said. [Read more…]
CLINTON—The defendant in a criminal homicide case in Rocky Top in August had planned to rob the 83-year-old man who died because “it would be easy,” according to court testimony Tuesday.
The body of the victim, J.C. Copeland, who has been described as a “sweet old man,” was found partially wrapped in a pink blanket underneath a porch at a mobile home on Jacksboro Avenue on August 31, according to Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Agent John Hannon. Copeland is believed to have been strangled until he died, according to court records. There was white rope around Copeland’s neck and other parts of his body, including his wrists and ankles, Hannon testified during a preliminary hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton on Tuesday.
Inside Copeland’s home, investigators found a fresh brown stain on the floor near his front door, white strings similar to the material found around his neck, and in one possible sign of a struggle, cigarettes on the floor, according to Hannon’s testimony. An acrylic painted press-on fingernail was found in the living room, Hannon said. It’s similar to the type of press-on fingernail that a woman might wear, Hannon said when questioned by prosecutor Emily Faye Abbott.
Outside the home, Copeland’s vehicle was missing.
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Oak Ridge Police Department officers started a memorial with stuffed animals for a child killed in a fatal two-vehicle crash at Emory Valley Road and Lafayette Drive on Friday evening, Jan. 13, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was updated at 7 p.m.
A second person has been charged with homicide in the death of a young boy in a traffic crash in Oak Ridge in January 2017.
Jason Robert Braden III, 3, died in the two-vehicle crash, which injured at least three other people and was considered a mass casualty event. It was reported at about 5:20 p.m. Friday, January 13, 2017, at the intersection of Emory Valley Road and Lafayette Drive.
In March 2018, Oak Ridge Today reported that an Anderson County man, Jason Robert Braden II, 25, had been charged, after the crash, in an 11-count indictment that included vehicular homicide by intoxication. The other charges against Braden included vehicular homicide by recklessness, four counts of reckless aggravated assault, reckless endangerment when a deadly weapon (a motor vehicle) is involved, driving under the influence, driving without a license, speeding, and violation of the child restraint law.
That case is still pending in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton. The homicide and assault charges are felonies, while the driving offenses are misdemeanors.
The second person, Ashley Marie Ann Braden, 23, was indicted by the Anderson County Grand Jury in Clinton on December 4. She was charged with a single felony count of criminally negligent homicide. The indictment alleged that Braden engaged in criminally negligent conduct that resulted in the death of Jason Robert Braden III. The indictment does not elaborate on the alleged facts of the case, which is typical for indictments. [Read more…]
Christy Viola Comer
The Rocky Top woman charged with homicide last week admitted stealing from an 83-year-old man who was believed to have been strangled at his home on Friday, according to Anderson County court records.
The body of J.C. Copeland was found outside of his home in the 600 block of Jacksboro Avenue in Rocky Top on Friday morning, authorities said last week.
Agents from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation started investigating at the request of Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark and with help from the Rocky Top Police Department, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, and Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force.
“During the course of the investigation, authorities developed information leading to Comer as an individual responsible for Copeland’s death,” the TBI said in a press release over the weekend.
An affidavit filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton said Christy Viola Comer, 37, who has been charged with criminal homicide, conspired to participate in the robbery and killing of Copeland. Copeland is believed to have been strangled to death, the affidavit said. [Read more…]
Christy Viola Comer
Note: This story was updated at 1:20 p.m. September 3.
A Rocky Top woman has been arrested and charged with homicide in the death of an 83-year-old man, state authorities said.
Christy Viola Comer, 37, was arrested by special agents from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, with help from several local law enforcement agencies, a TBI press release said.
On Friday morning, authorities found the body of J.C. Copeland outside of his home in the 600 block of Jacksboro Avenue in Rocky Top. TBI agents started investigating at the request of Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark and with help from the Rocky Top Police Department, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, and Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force. [Read more…]
