Double homicide in Tennessee-Christian/Newsom Murders
On January 6, 2007, in Knoxville, Tennessee, the lives of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom and their families were forever changed.
Channon and Christopher had been dating two months. They were out on a date and had dinner. Channon called her mother and informed her mother that she was going to a friend’s house with Christopher to watch a movie.
At some point during the night Channon and Christopher were car-jacked, bound, blindfolded and kidnapped. They were taken to the apartment of one of the suspects, Lemaricus Davidson. According to reports, at the apartment, Christopher was raped as Channon watched in horror, afterwords he was shot multiple times and then his body was set on fire to dispose of evidence and he was dumped near rail road tracks not far from Davidson’s apartment.
Channon was reportedly held for two days, she was beaten, gang raped, and urinated upon. When the culprits were done with her, they poured bleach down her throat, shot her multiple times and then set her body on fire. Her body was found in a trash can inside Davidson’s apartment.
Christian's parents found her abandoned Toyota 4-Runner two blocks away from the Chipman Street house the following Monday with the help of her mobile phone provider. An envelope recovered from the vehicle yielded fingerprint evidence that led police to Lemaricus Davidson and 2316 Chipman Street. When police went to the address on Tuesday, January 9, they found the home unoccupied and Christian's body in a trash can in the kitchen.
The national news media was criticized by some for not giving the crime adequate coverage because the victims were white and the suspects black, but one commentator explained that "as bad as this crime is, the apparent absence of any interest group involvement or any other 'angle' might also explain the lack of coverage. Most believe this was a hate crime, thus the lack of national media coverage.
Channon was a medical technician at area hospitals and a senior sociology major at the University of Tennessee . Christopher had been talented baseball player for his high school.
Forensic Details of the brutality
According to the testimony of the Knox County Acting Medical Examiner, Newsom was repeatedly raped and then blindfolded, gagged, arms and feet bound and his head covered. Barefoot, he was either led or dragged outside the house to a set of nearby railroad tracks, where a gun was placed to the back of his head and fired. He was shot twice more, once in the neck and once in the back. His body was then set afire, she said.
Christian's death would come only after hours of sexual torture, Mileusnic-Polchan testified.
"It's much more than a simple sexual assault," she said. "It's extreme."
Christian suffered horrific injuries to her vagina, anus and mouth. She was not only raped but savaged with "an object," the doctor testified. She was beaten in the head. Some type of chemical was poured down her throat, and her body, including her bleeding and battered genital area, likely scrubbed with the same solution - all while Christian was alive, the forensic expert said.
She was then "hog-tied," with curtains and strips of bedding, her face covered tightly with a small white trash bag and her body stashed inside five large trash bags before being placed inside a large trash can and covered with sheets, Mileusnic-Polchan testified.
Christian died slowly, suffocating, the medical examiner said.
"My conclusion was she actually died in the trash can," Mileusnic-Polchan testified.
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George Geovonni " Detroit " Thomas, 27, faces a total of 46 charges. Thomas was indicted on 16 counts of felony murder growing out of the rape, robbery, kidnapping, and theft of Christian and Newsom, 2 counts of premeditated murder, 2 counts of especially aggravated robbery, 4 counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, 20 counts of aggravated rape, and 2 counts of theft.
Lemaricus Devall "Slim" Davidson, faces the same 46 charges as Thomas. Davidson had also completed serving a five-year sentence in Tennessee on a previous felony conviction for carjacking and aggravated robbery on August 5, 2006.
Letalvis " Rome " Cobbins, 24, also faces the same 46 charges as Thomas. In 2003, Cobbins was convicted of third-degree attempted robbery in New York state. He and Davidson are brothers.
Vanessa Coleman, 18, was arrested by police in Lebanon , Kentucky . She faces 40 Tennessee state charges. Coleman was indicted on 12 counts of felony murder growing out of the rape, robbery, kidnapping, and theft of Christian and Newsom, 1 count of premeditated murder (of Christian only), 1 count of especially aggravated robbery (of Newsom only), 4 counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, 20 counts of aggravated rape, and 2 counts of theft.
Cobbins' trial has been pushed back to July 6. Now scheduled for August 12.
Vanessa Coleman's trial date has been set for August 10. Now delayed. No date set.
Lemaricus Davidson's trial date is set for September 21.
George Thomas will go to trial December 2.
Resources:
http://www.murphymilanojournal.blogspot.com/
http://www.thewaroncrime.blogspot.com/
en.wikipedia.org
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/feb/14/judge-rule-trial-delay-carjacking-murder-suspect/
Updates
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Cobins Trial
Boyd Trial
09-03-09
Jury Selection Begins For Ringleader Lemaricus Davidson
Less than half of Knox Countians asked to appear for jury orientation today in the torture-slaying trial of Lemaricus Davidson actually showed up.
Knox County Criminal Court Clerk Joy McCroskey said of the 900 people summoned to appear 386 showed up for orientation at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum.
She excused a little more than a dozen for medical related issues.
In an unusual appearance, Davidson, 28, was allowed to be at the orientation dressed in a black suit.
Davidson was seated at a table with his defense team of David Eldridge and Doug Trant at the front of the ballroom where the orientation was held.
Judge Richard Baumgartner had ordered deputies to take pains to make it appear as if Davidson was not in custody so as to prevent any prejudice. However, there was plenty of security both inside and outside the ballroom.
The judge told potential jurors that Davidson was facing the death penalty if convicted.
He gave brief details of the January 2007 killings of Channon Christian, 21, and Chris Newsom, 23, but added that he doubted few people in the room were unaware of the case since Davidson's brother, Letalvis Cobbins, 26, was convicted a week ago and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Resource pick...
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/sep/01/torture-slayings-trial-less-half-jury-pool-shows-o/
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