After murdering Christopher, the five criminals returned to torture Channon. They were kidnapped by five Blacks (four males and one female), who then took them to a house where . A woman accused him of trading legal favors for sex during breaks in court sessions. On January 6, 2007, couple Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom were out in East Knoxville. Instead of finding him guilty of especially aggravated armed robbery, the jury found Boyd guilty of aggravated armed robbery. [I]t's a crazy world these days! Police also seized a purse that contained several of Christian's belongings, including her cosmetic bag and change purse. [15][101] The jury returned a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole on each of the four capital convictions. #searchlist h2 {font-family:'Myriad W01 SmBd', sans-serif; color: #616161; font-size: 0.81255em; /* 13/16 */ line-height: 1.1em; text-transform: uppercase;} [133] Serving a 35-year sentence, Coleman was eligible for parole in 2017 and her sentence expires on April 18, 2036. He was a member of Beaver Dam Baptist Church and a graduate of Halls High School, Class of . [100], On December 8, 2009, George Thomas was found guilty on multiple counts. All Rights Reserved. Newsom survived this shooting initially, but later was shot again in the head. [19][143] Boyd is incarcerated at the Bledsoe County Correctional Complex. After high school, he attended Pellissippi State Technical Community College and became a carpenter. They were unable to locate Christian's SUV. Many people believed that the crimes were ignored because the victims were white while the perpetrators were black. Coleman is currently serving a 35-year prison sentence set to end in 2036, officials said. To do the things they did, they would have to hate them to do that. She admitted they all smoked marijuana. He was later driven to nearby railroad tracks where he was shot and set afire. After receiving phone calls between Davidson and Boyd, they asked Boyd for information regarding Davidson's whereabouts. [50][72] Also inside the house were several items that belonged to Christian and Newsom, including Christian's purse, clothing she had in her vehicle, Christian's shoes, camera, photographs (which were ripped and burned), and iPod and Newsom's baseball caps and driver's license. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}355928N 835427W / 35.99113N 83.907514W / 35.99113; -83.907514, Channon Gail Christian, aged 21, and Hugh Christopher Newsom Jr., aged 23, were from Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. KNOXVILLE, Tenn. In the early morning hours of January 7, 2007, Channon Christian, 21, and her boyfriend, Christopher Newsom, 23, were carjacked by three black males who took the young couple to a house on Chipman Street in Knoxville, TN, where the group tortured and killed them. Prosecutors filed to have Judge Blackwood recused from the case, citing Blackwood's emotional involvement, his ex parte communication with the defense, lack of candor with the local media, and Supreme Court guidance that recusal should be considered before any other action. [51][53][54], On January 7, Christian failed to answer calls from her mother and friend. They had only been dating for a few months, but they were . For more information, please see our The perpetrators were all black. he asked Boyd in the videotaped interview. Three days later, the body of his 21-year-old girlfriend, Channon Christian was found stuffed inside a trash can in a nearby. Others, including journalists, disagreed with this assertion. Her thighs were bound to her chest with a pink curtain. "I may go to Labor Ready occasionally so I can get a little more buzz money.". He saw four black men in the car. [74] He later told police that Cobbins and Thomas arrived at his house at around 10:00 pm on Friday or Saturday and informed him that they had carjacked some people who were in the vehicle. [77], Coleman's lawyers argued that she should receive a 20-year sentence, while prosecutors asked for the maximum sentence of nearly 50 years. "That really had me worried.". [34][35] She planned on graduating in December 2007. I didn't want to believe it.". He was also sentenced to another 90 years for other crimes, including especially aggravated kidnapping, robbery and rape. The medical examiner testified at trial that there was evidence that Christian slowly suffocated to death. Waste Connections demolished the house in October 2008. [48][53][54][57] Her injuries were consistent with being raped with an object. Boyd's request for a new trial was denied by Knox County Criminal Court Judge Bob McGee in 2019. Friends and family of the murderers made websites claiming that Channon and Christopher actively wanted to be brutally raped and murdered. My brother did something.' [20] He was immediately sentenced to life in prison by the judge, who stated that a life sentence was automatic for the murder conviction. Channon Gail Christian, 21, and Hugh Christopher Newsom, Jr., 23, were from Knoxville, Tennessee. Sutton testified that she suspected Davidson when she learned that Newsom's body had been discovered beside railroad tracks within sight of the Chipman Street house. His bare and muddy feet indicated that he had walked barefoot to the area where he was killed. Facts Leading to the Indictment Against Boyd On Saturday, January 6, 2007, Christophe r Newsom and his girlfriend, Channon Christian, drove to dinner and planned to attend a party. [47], After finding Christian's body and discovering the presence of Davidson's semen on her clothing and in her body cavities, police undertook a manhunt for Davidson. About twice as many counter-protesters as protestors attended, including the "Coup Cluts Clowns", an activist group which mocks the Ku Klux Klan. The fatal shot was fired with the gun's muzzle against his head above his right ear, and it severed his brain stem. The sentencing judge, Richard Baumgartner, one of Knox County's three Criminal Court judges, was forced to resign from the bench in March 2011, having admitted to drug addiction and purchasing prescription pain medication from convicts. [3][7], Channon Gail Christian (born April 29, 1985, in Nacogdoches, Texas) moved from Louisiana to Tennessee with her family in 1997. In testimony this afternoon, Danielle Lightfoot said that Boyd and Davidson showed up on her Ridgebrook Apartments doorstep late on Jan. 9, a Tuesday. "His eyes were really big, like he knew what she was telling me.". "It may have started out as a carjacking, but what it developed into was blacks hating whites. They were both raped, tortured and murdered after being kidnapped early on the morning of January 7, 2007. "They just, I guess, a car was coming pushed them in right in the car because dude (Newsom) was giving girl (Christian) a kiss.". Does that make sense to you?" Reportedly, they had dinner at a local restaurantand then visited a friend. "[17], The defendants in the four state cases from the 2000s all appealed their convictions. {{bottomLinkPreText}} {{bottomLinkText}} This page is based on a Wikipedia article written by contributors (read/edit). Davidson met her at the door and followed her inside. [85] Judge Richard Baumgartner allowed Thomas and Cobbins to be tried by juries from Davidson County (which includes Nashville). Channon Christian (21) and Chris Newsom's (23) lives were taken on January 7, 2007 at the hands of five vicious criminals in Knoxville, TN while on a date. Her head was forced down onto her knees. "I had a car," he said. [82][103], On May 13, 2010, Coleman was acquitted of first-degree murder and found guilty of lesser charges. [26][28], Police Chief Sterling Owen IV said there was no indication that the crimes were racially motivated. The witness later observed the 4Runner drive slowly by him. Knoxville investigators did not find Christian until the following Tuesday. Specifically, he sentenced her to 25 years for the facilitation of Christian's murder, six years for the facilitation of kidnapping, and four years for the facilitation of rape. Davidson asked if he and Boyd could stay the night at her apartment. ul.searchbrowse li a {color:#676767; text-decoration:none; } [24][25], Controversy arose due to differing interpretations regarding the media's coverage of the murders. "We've been through the worst. "The United States did not create the facts in this case. The fourth slaying suspect, Cobbins' girlfriend, Vanessa Coleman, was nowhere in sight, she testified. [43][92], On April 16, 2008, Eric Boyd was found guilty in federal court of being an accessory to a fatal carjacking and of failing to report the location of a known fugitive. A single mother, Sutton, 22, testified Friday that she left Davidson the day before Christian and Newsom were kidnapped because he had abused her. "Something was bothering him. On January 6, 2007, Newsom and Christian were abducted at gunpoint in an apartment complex parking lot and taken to what Witt calls a "house of horrors" where they were beaten, tortured, sexually. [89][90], Davidson was also indicted for the Pizza Hut robbery committed the day after the murders. and wrote that she 'loved her life!'. Four to go," said Gary Christian, father of Channon Christian, referring to the four suspects who face trials in state court for the killings of Channon, then 21, and her boyfriend, 23-year-old Christopher Newsom. The 32-year-old was convicted of facilitation of first-degree murder in the deaths of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom. The autopsy report said that Shanann had a "history of being reported missing and subsequently found unresponsive in obvious state of death in a shallow grave." The cause of death was. Hours later, Newsoms body was found alongside railroad tracks near Chipman Street in East Knoxville. In August 2014, the families of the victims were notified that with good behavior, Coleman's sentence was being reduced by 16 days per month of incarceration, making her eligible for parole consideration in October 2014. [26][27][28][29] Efforts have been made to remember and honor Christian and Newsom. [64][65][66], Newsom's body was discovered near a set of nearby railroad tracks on January 7 at 12:20 pm by a Norfolk Southern Railroad employee. According to the FBI, African-Americans accounted for 55.9% of all homicide offenders in 2019, with whites 41.1%, and "Other" 3.0% in cases where the race was known. Armstrong reluctantly acknowledged that he feared he might become a carjacking victim. Then, the men hogtied her with strips of fabric from a bedding set. Quote: The young Knoxville couple was carjacked, raped and killed in January 2007. Chris eventually shot to death before being set on fire, and Channon left to die with a plastic bag over her head in a trash can. The BEST of the worst true crime and macabre stories guaranteed to haunt your nightmares. The seven board members voted unanimously to deny Coleman parole and ensure that she would not be eligible to go before a parole board again for ten years. While Channon was forced to watch, her boyfriend was raped prison style. There, they reportedly shot himmultiple times. [47][48][49] Christian was also anally and vaginally raped. And that their friends should be raped and murdered like Channon and Christopher. At one point, he said he went into the living room where he could see Davidson's girlfriend in the kitchen. Medical examiners testifiedto this fact at Boyd's first trial in 2008. He is not charged, however, in either the carjacking or the killings. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. A. However, she wasdenied paroleat the hearing. [4][5][6][7][8] Also in 2007, Eric DeWayne Boyd was indicted by a federal grand jury of being an accessory to a carjacking, resulting in serious bodily injury to another person, and misprision of a felony. [21] Retrials were originally slated for the summer and fall of 2012. However, before Lomonaco objected, Mileusnic-Polchan testified that Christian was found in "a forced fetal position" inside a trash can. [40] The medical examiner testified that Christian died after hours of sexual torture, sustaining severe head injuries and suffering severe injuries to her vagina, anus, and mouth due to sexual assaults. "[29] Pitts wrote: "I am [] unkindly disposed toward the crackpots, incendiaries and flat-out racists who have chosen this tragedy upon which to take an obscene and ludicrous stand."[29][150]. On August 14, 2019, Boyd, who has long been suspected as the man responsible for the assault against Newsom,was convicted of first-degree murderincluding related crimes of kidnapping and assault. [61], On January 11, Thomas, Cobbins, and Coleman were arrested in Lebanon, Kentucky. After the Bledsoe County Correctional Complex in Pikeville opened in 2012, they were transferred to that facility. "I asked him (Davidson) if he had anything on him as far as a weapon," she said. Your IP: [147], The house at 2316 Chipman Street was bought by Waste Connections, a national garbage collection company with a depot on the next lot. Fifteen years ago today, a train conductor passing through Knoxville, Tennessee, made a shocking discovery on the railroad tracks on Ninth Avenue: the bound, burned body of 23-year-old Christopher Newsom. KPD Officer Ed Kingsbury testified Boyd was nabbed two days later and eventually admitted to helping Davidson hide by breaking into a vacant house on Reynolds Street. [128], Vanessa Coleman, the only female charged and convicted in the crimes, is held at the Tennessee Prison for Women, now known as the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, in Nashville. [98] The jurors unanimously found Davidson should receive the death penalty on the four capital charges, two first-degree felony murder charges, and the two premeditated first-degree murders of Christian and Newsom. [3][49][55] Prosecutors believe that Coleman held Christian captive while the male offenders were murdering Newsom. I stayed away.". "State calls the medical examiner. Horrifying facts and disturbing details about real cases that shocked. Let's talk about adventures! It[']s going to be a long interesting year! [5][141] Davidson was sentenced to death on October 30, 2009,[142] and is incarcerated at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. The thugs responsible for this crime are: The murders did not receive as much media attention as they should have, partly because the rape story at Duke University took precedence.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'truecrimediva_com-large-leaderboard-2','ezslot_11',112,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-truecrimediva_com-large-leaderboard-2-0'); I REFUSE to put pictures of the killers in this post. The medical examiner had just begun to describe were the most significant injuries located in the vaginal region when Varlan delayed her testimony. The decision to hold retrials for them was affirmed in a two to one decision by the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals on April 13. [151][152] A memorial to Newsom and Christian was created at the location where the house once stood. Channon Gail Christian, aged 21, and Hugh Christopher Newsom Jr., aged 23, were from Knoxville, Tennessee, United States.They were kidnapped on the evening of January 6, 2007, when Christian's vehicle was carjacked.The couple were taken to a rental house. They were last seen at the Washington Ridge Apartments. bodily injury and death in violation of 18 U.S.C. [56] While the retrial was conducted in Knoxville, the jury for the retrial was selected from Jackson, Tennessee, more than 300 miles west of Knoxville. Cobbins denied having any sexual intercourse with the female victim. [121][122][123][124] On August 13, 2019, a jury found Boyd guilty on nearly all charges, including premeditated first-degree murder and rape against both victims. In January 2016, Thomas appealed to the United States Supreme Court[120] but the court did not agree to hear the case.