murder Archives - Oak Ridge Today

Warrants: Woman tortured, raped before being killed

Posted at 10:49 pm August 6, 2020
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Note: This story contains graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

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.

[Read more…]

For members: Man charged with attempted murder of deputy has two homicide convictions

Posted at 11:15 am May 30, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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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Son charged in gruesome murder of parents; mother worked in Oak Ridge

Posted at 5:37 pm November 30, 2016
By John Huotari 3 Comments

Joel Michael Guy Jr.

A 28-year-old man has been charged in the gruesome murder of his parents, one of whom worked in Oak Ridge, authorities said.

Joel Michael Guy Jr., 28, was arrested Tuesday evening in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and charged with killing his parents, Joel Michael Guy Sr., 61, and Lisa Guy, 55, at their home at 11434 Goldenview Lane in west Knox County, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said.

The parents are believed to have been murdered between Friday, November 25, and mid-day Saturday, November 26. Both suffered vicious stab wounds as well as dismemberment, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said. Their remains were found in multiple rooms in the house. The suspect placed portions of the remains in an acid-based solution in an attempt to destroy evidence, the Sheriff’s Office said.

The toxic fluid required specific biohazard equipment for removal by the KCSO Hazmat Team, authorities said. [Read more…]

Reward offered in Coalfield murder of Vietnam vet who retired from Boeing, B&W

Posted at 11:43 am May 4, 2016
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Jerry “Pete” McCarroll. Photo via Facebook/BBB-TV

Family and friends are offering a $10,000 reward for specific information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for the death of Jerry “Pete” McCarroll, a Vietnam veteran and cancer survivor who was retired from Boeing and B&W Clinch River in Oak Ridge, authorities said.

McCarroll was found murdered on April 18 outside of Allied Metal Recovery and Refining on Gouge Hollow Road in the Coalfield area of Morgan County, according to the Office of the District Attorney General in the Ninth Judicial District, which includes Loudon, Meigs, Morgan, and Roane counties.

McCarroll worked at Allied Metal Recovery and Refining, a press release said. His body was found at 6:30 a.m. Monday, April 18, and he had been beaten and shot, the press release said. McCarroll was known to carry cash, and the motive may have been robbery, authorities said. [Read more…]

Man pleads guilty to murder-, robbery-related charges in drug deal that ended in death

Posted at 6:05 pm February 10, 2016
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Bronx Washington

An Oak Ridge man has pleaded guilty to murder- and robbery-related charges in what police described as a marijuana deal that ended with one man dead.

Bronx Shavon Washington, who is now 22, pleaded guilty in Anderson County Criminal Court on Monday. He entered the guilty pleas on a reduced charge of facilitation to commit second-degree murder, a Class B felony, and a reduced charge of facilitation to commit aggravated robbery, a Class C felony. Washington received a total 14-year sentence on those two charges as well as a drug possession charge. He was the last of three defendants to plead guilty in the case.

Washington and two brothers, Brandon Javon Brooms, now 25, and James Stefan Brooms, now 27, had each been indicted in March 2012 on charges of first-degree murder and especially aggravated robbery in the death of Antonio “Tony” Phillips, 22. [Read more…]

Trial for Corwin’s alleged killer to be moved

Posted at 12:14 pm September 28, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Christopher Lee

Information from WYSH Radio

The trial for a former Marine accused of killing an Oak Ridge native who was living in California with her Marine husband is being moved.

Christopher Lee is charged with the 2014 murder of Erin Corwin.

Prosecutors say that after he killed her, Lee dumped Corwin’s body down an abandoned mine shaft in a remote section of the Joshua Tree National Park.

Authorities say the two had an affair while Corwin’s husband was based at Twentynine Palms, California. [Read more…]

ACSD: Daughter’s boyfriend charged with murder in Andersonville shooting

Posted at 10:39 am June 11, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

William James McMillan

Note: This story was updated at 11:33 a.m.

An Andersonville man has been charged with murder in a shooting that allegedly killed his girlfriend’s mother early Wednesday, authorities said.

William James McMillan, 48, is accused of fatally shooting Karen Zahrobsky, 66, according to authorities. They said McMillan, Zahrobsky, and Zahrobsky’s daughter, Christin Dixon, 45, all lived at 460 Lone Mountain Road in Andersonville, where the shooting allegedly occurred.

The shooting was reported at about 4:45 a.m. Wednesday. Zahrobsky was dead when deputies arrived.

McMillan was charged by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which helped investigate. McMillan was booked into the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton, and he is being held on $625,000.00 bond. [Read more…]

Former TBI fugitive charged with kidnapping, murder of missing Campbell County woman

Posted at 7:27 pm January 7, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Lonnie Vann

KNOXVILLE–A former Top 10 fugitive who had been wanted by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for armed robbery has now been charged with killing a woman who had been reported missing in Campbell County more than a month ago.

Lonnie Lee Vann, 44, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of kidnapping, the TBI said in a press release Wednesday, the same day a Campbell County grand jury returned the indictments.

At the request of 8th District Attorney General Jared Effler, TBI special agents, helped by investigators from the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement agencies in East Tennessee, began investigating the disappearance of Rhonda Daugherty on December 4. The 49-year woman went missing from her home on December 2. [Read more…]

TBI: Robbery suspect on most wanted list captured in Myrtle Beach

Posted at 11:20 pm December 14, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Lonnie Vann

A Jacksboro man who is a robbery suspect on the state’s most wanted list was captured Friday night in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, authorities said. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said Lonnie Vann is wanted by the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office and the TBI on two counts of armed robbery from a December 5 incident on Deerfield Way in Lafollette.

Vann, a Jacksboro resident and former Campbell County middle school teacher, was added to the TBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted list one week ago. He was the most recent addition to the list.

In a press release Saturday, the TBI said special agents developed leads that Vann was in South Carolina. At about 7:30 p.m. Friday, Myrtle Beach police officers spotted the white Chevy Captiva that Vann was driving on Highway 501, the release said. [Read more…]

DA: State seeks death penalty against pair accused of murder

Posted at 12:14 pm August 25, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Norman Lee Follis Jr.

Note: This story was last updated at 12:50 p.m.

State officials will seek the death penalty against a pair accused in the murder of a 79-year-old man whose body was found hidden underneath an apartment staircase on Patt Lane in Claxton two years ago, authorities said.

Norman Lee Follis Jr., 50, and Tammy Sue Chapman, 46, are accused of killing Sammie J. Adams sometime between December 5, 2011, and January 24, 2012, Anderson County District Attorney General Dave Clark said in a Monday announcement. Adams’ body was found under a stairwell in his home after friends and neighbors reported that they hadn’t seen him in a while, Clark said.

Adams’ age—he was over 70—was an aggravating factor leading to the death penalty request, Clark said. [Read more…]

Appeals court upholds murder verdict, life sentence

Posted at 12:11 pm February 17, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Information from WYSH Radio

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals last week upheld the first-degree murder conviction of a man who killed his mother-in-law with a hatchet while his infant daughter was in a nearby room nearly seven years ago.

Robert Fritts was convicted in the March 2007 death of Teresa Busler, who died from multiple blows to the head from a hatchet and had a white paint-like substance sprayed on her face. Fritts and his wife—the victim’s daughter—and their infant daughter had been living at the family’s Andersonville home at the time of the murder. The baby was found unharmed in another bedroom when Busler’s husband returned home and discovered the grisly crime scene.

The case was somewhat noteworthy as prosecutors introduced evidence that Fritts was part of a group of so-called “jugalos,” or fans of rap group Insane Clown Posse. Insane Clown Posse band members often wear white, clown-style face makeup and their record label—Psychopathic Records—uses a picture of a hatchet-wielding man as its logo. In his appeal, Fritts’ attorneys argued that it was “improper for prosecutors to submit evidence of his affiliation with the rap group or suggesting that the band or its followers were a gang.” He also argued there was not sufficient evidence to establish that Busler’s murder was premeditated. [Read more…]

Grandmother facing death penalty in murder case indicted on new child abuse charges

Posted at 9:52 pm October 14, 2013
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Valerie Stenson

An Oak Ridge grandmother who is already facing the death penalty and charged with first-degree murder in the death of her toddler granddaughter has been indicted on nine new counts of aggravated child abuse, aggravated child neglect, and aggravated child endangerment in cases involving three other children, court records said.

Valerie Stenson, 49, of Teller Village Apartments, was indicted and arrested last year in the April 17, 2011, death of Manhattan Inman. The child was found dead in a home on Teller Village Lane, and an Anderson County grand jury indicted Stenson for first-degree murder and four counts of aggravated child abuse and neglect in 2012.

The new indictments were filed Sept. 3. They include four counts of aggravated child abuse, two counts of aggravated child neglect, and three counts of aggravated child endangerment. The offenses allegedly occurred between April 15, 2010, and April 15, 2011, and all three victims are under 18, the indictments said. [Read more…]