Oak Ridge Today

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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Victim identified, bond set at $1 million for Dishman

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Rebecca Dishman

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

Bond was set at $1 million on Friday for Rebecca Elizabeth Dishman, one of two Oak Ridge defendants charged with first-degree murder, sex crimes, and kidnapping after a 36-year-old woman was allegedly tortured, raped, and strangled, and her mutilated body was stuffed into a freezer.

The identity of the victim, Jennifer Gail Paxton, hadn’t initially been released because authorities wanted to ensure that family members had been notified of her death. On Friday night, the City of Oak Ridge said Paxton’s family had been notified.

Dishman, 22, one of the two defendants, has been charged with five felonies after Paxton’s death: first-degree murder, aggravated sexual battery, aggravated kidnapping, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence.

Her co-defendant, Sean Finnegan, 52, has also been charged with five felonies: first-degree murder, aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence.

Finnegan could have his bond set Monday, according to records in Anderson County General Sessions Court.

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Warrants: Woman tortured, raped before being killed

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Sean Finnegan

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.

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Two suspects in custody after apparent homicide

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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.

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Responding to rifle call, police find BB gun

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Note: This story was updated at 5:30 p.m.

The Oak Ridge Police Department responded to a call of a rifle being pointed at cars passing by on Highland Avenue on Tuesday afternoon, but officers determined the gun was a BB gun.

The ORPD received the call at about 3:02 p.m. Tuesday.

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Three people shot, two arrested, one charged with attempted murder

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Adrian C. Curb

Three people were shot in Oak Ridge on Thursday, four bystanders were allegedly in imminent danger, and two people have been arrested, with one facing two charges of attempted first-degree murder, according to police and court records.

Adrian Conan Curb, the 40-year-old Oak Ridge man charged with attempted murder after the shooting, allegedly had a handgun with a drum-style magazine attached, according to arrest warrants filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court.

The shooting was reported at about 8:39 p.m. Thursday on South Dillard Avenue in Scarboro.

The three people who were shot were taken to hospitals with injuries that aren’t considered life-threatening, the Oak Ridge Police Department said in a press release Friday.

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Black bear seen in east Oak Ridge

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At lunchtime Wednesday, June 10, 2020, the Oak Ridge Police Department received a call from the Rivers Run Boulevard area, reporting that a bear had been spotted in a resident’s yard through a Ring doorbell. The bear was not aggressive, and officers were unable to locate the bear, the ORPD said. (Photo courtesy ORPD)

A black bear was seen in east Oak Ridge early Wednesday afternoon, police said.

The Oak Ridge Police Department received a call about the bear at 12:35 p.m. Wednesday. The bear had been seen in a resident’s yard through a Ring doorbell.

The bear was not aggressive, the ORPD said. Officers were unable to locate the bear.

Here’s what the ORPD said you should do if you encounter a bear in your neighborhood:

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Driver, passenger identified in fatal crash

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The passenger who died in a crash on State Route 95 on Wednesday has been identified as Ricky L. Crabtree, 39, of Oak Ridge.

The driver, who is Crabtree’s brother, has been identified as Rusty A. Crabtree, 37, also of Oak Ridge.

The crash was reported at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday on SR 95 just south of Bethel Valley Road, the western entrance to Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

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ORPD investigating fatal crash on SR 95 near Bethel Valley

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The Oak Ridge Police Department is investigating a fatal crash of a vehicle into a tree on Wednesday on State Route 95 just south of Bethel Valley Road.

When they arrived, police officers found a 39-year-old male passenger who was pronounced dead on the scene, a press release said. The driver was taken to Methodist Medical Center with injuries that weren’t life-threatening.

Identification of the male passenger is being withheld until relatives have been notified, the press release said.

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