Kicking her time and christopher autopsy report or at this world right above my comments are not edit took the weight. "[53] Prosecutors believe that Christian was tied to a chair and orally raped by Davidson and Cobbins. "The United States did not create the facts in this case. On Sunday, she talked to Davidson, who asked her to come back to their Chipman Street house so he could give her some clothing he had bought for her, she said. That changed how I acted.". [1][2][3] Four males and one female were arrested, charged, and convicted in the case. Her thighs were bound to her chest with a pink curtain. Her testimony capped the end of the state's weeklong case against suspect Letalvis Cobbins. The Greatest Rock Stars Who Died Before 30. "They just, I guess, a car was coming pushed them in right in the car because dude (Newsom) was giving girl (Christian) a kiss.". [78], The four suspects indicted in Knox County were scheduled to be tried separately at trials between May and August 2008. [11][99] In June 2010, Davidson was sentenced to 80 years for other charges related to the murders. [5] Thomas is incarcerated at the Northeast Correctional Complex. Both of them were raped, tortured, and murdered. "His eyes were really big, like he knew what she was telling me.". [105][106][107][108] It was held that his ability to conduct trials had been impaired during his prior two years on the bench, and he was disbarred in September. [133][138][139] Coleman again went before a parole board on December 8, 2020. True Crime Diva 2010-2022. [53][58] According to the medical examiner, the sexual attack Christian endured was "extreme" and "much more than a simple sexual assault. She was nude from the waist down, as was Newsom. "I had a car," he said. Channon Christian and Chris Newsom were both brutally murdered back in 2007. 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. He insists, however, that she escaped prosecution because she, unlike Boyd, Davidson and three others implicated in the slayings, is white and the niece of Knoxville Police Department Officer Dennis R. Bible. [7][33][34] A foundation has also been established in Newsom's name. Rev. Sutton testified. He also admitted that Boyd later called him, asking Armstrong to give the pair a ride "down west.". The witness later observed the 4Runner drive slowly by him. A single mother, Sutton, 22, testified Friday that she left Davidson the day before Christian and Newsom were kidnapped because he had abused her. More details as they develop online and in Tuesday's News Sentinel. [50][54] A comforter was wrapped around Newsom's body, and a sweatshirt was wrapped around his head. It was days before police found Christians body. The perpetrators attacked the couple in a parking lot near an apartment complex in Knoxville, TN. Their vehicle had been carjacked. Although Christian sustained multiple blows to the head and other trauma, she ultimately suffocated after being placed in the plastic bags. [71][72] Christian's body was stashed in five large trash bags. The assailants lit his body on fire to cover up their tracks. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. Channon Gail Christian, 21, and Hugh Christopher Newsom, Jr., 23, were a couple from Knoxville, Tennessee. According to Boyd, Davidson, his brother and a friend needed a vehicle because they were being pursued by drug dealers to whom they owed money. When they arrived, they saw an SUV with a female in the driver's seat. The next day, a train conductor reported a body near the railroad tracks and 9th Avenue in East Knoxville. "(Boyd) was not his normal self," she testified. 'I don't know what's going on. Judge Thomas T. Woodall wrote in his opinion: "The facts at trial showed that (Coleman) was in the (Chipman Street) house for nearly two days where (Christian) was confined and brutally raped before she was tied up, wrapped in five plastic trash bags and stuffed into a garbage can, where she died from asphyxiationIn journal entries (written after the slayings, Coleman) described 'one hell of an adventure in the big T.N.' However, after a new trial in November 2013, Coleman wasgiven a lesser sentence of 35 years in prison. On the night of January 6, 2007, two assailants carjacked Channon Christian, 21, and her boyfriend, Christopher Newsom, 23. "Sexual trauma was present," she testified. The fatal shot was fired with the gun's muzzle against his head above his right ear, and it severed his brain stem. [116][140], Cobbins and Thomas were originally incarcerated at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. Reportedly, four of them - Davidson; his brother, Cobbins; Cobbinss friend Thomas; and Thomass girlfriend, Coleman - abusedChristian before she died. He was a member of Beaver Dam Baptist Church and a graduate of Halls High School, Class of . The pair were abducted from the Washington Ridge apartment complex in Knoxville, Tennessee. The medical examiner had just begun to describe were the most significant injuries located in the vaginal region when Varlan delayed her testimony. He later tried to distance himself from the house, however, saying Davidson actually met him on the front porch. doctor removing sheet - autopsy stock pictures, royalty-free photos & images. You took my opportunity to say yes to a young man one day. He is not charged, however, in either the carjacking or the killings. [34][35] She planned on graduating in December 2007. You took my (wedding) dance away. After they forced Newsom into the back of Christians SUV, the assailants took him to a secluded area next to nearby railroad tracks. Channon suffered a similar fate. According to Cobbins, Davidson took the woman into a bedroom once they arrived at the residence, and Boyd drove away with the man. He was also sentenced to another 90 years for other crimes, including especially aggravated kidnapping, robbery and rape. After the Bledsoe County Correctional Complex in Pikeville opened in 2012, they were transferred to that facility. They were both raped, tortured and murdered after being kidnapped early on the morning of January 7, 2007. These bills are better known as the Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. He had been beaten, raped, and shot. Later in the interview, Boyd said Davidson admitted dousing Newsom with gasoline and setting his body on fire, which contradicted his earlier account that Thomas had led Newsom out of the house and shot him. Christopher Newsom was either forced to walk barefoot or partially dragged with his ankles bound to the scene of his death, Knox County's acting medical examiner testified late this afternoon. This will be the gruesome autopsy photos. [14], On October 28, 2009, Lemaricus Davidson was found guilty. He was blindfolded with a bandana and gagged with a sock. August 2009, Rome was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Channon & facilitation of murder in connection to the death of Chris; he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Davidson then drove the stolen SUV - with the couple in the back - to Davidsons nearby house. Privacy Policy. [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. Davidson claimed that he did not go past the living room and that he never raped Christian. Police also seized a purse that contained several of Christian's belongings, including her cosmetic bag and change purse. Boyd and Davidson did not put up a fuss, she said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Stone showed Armstrong phone records, detailing more than two dozen calls to Armstrong from Boyd's cellular phone from Jan. 9 until the arrest of Boyd and Davidson on Jan. 11. A small white plastic bag was pulled over head. "He just acted like he didn't know what was going on. In February 2008, the trial dates for the subjects indicted in Knox County were moved to 2009. Friends and family of the murderers made websites claiming that Channon and Christopher actively wanted to be brutally raped and murdered. She was, an autopsy indicated, alive while the torture and degradations occurred. She returned from Atlanta later that night. Get True Crime Diva's blog posts delivered to your inbox! His sentence ends in May 2053. To do the things they did, they would have to hate them to do that. [43][44][51][67][68][69][70], When police went to 2316 Chipman Street on Tuesday, January 9, they found the house unoccupied and Christian's body in a trash can in the kitchen. He said yes. He cited a 2001 report by the Berkeley Media Studies Group, which found that "Blacks and Latinos are underrepresented in news media as victims of crime and significantly overrepresented as perpetrators. "There is absolutely no proof of a hate crime," said John Gill, special counsel to Knox County District Attorney Randy Nichols. [131][132] In March 2022, the Tennessee Supreme Court denied Boyd another appeal of his convictions. He was later driven to nearby railroad tracks where he was shot and set afire. [3][7], Channon Gail Christian (born April 29, 1985, in Nacogdoches, Texas) moved from Louisiana to Tennessee with her family in 1997. He initially insisted he could provide one with no problem. The victims families notified authorities the next day about the missing couple. In testimony this afternoon, Danielle Lightfoot said that Boyd and Davidson showed up on her Ridgebrook Apartments doorstep late on Jan. 9, a Tuesday. He was found guilty of facilitating the murder of Newsom, but he was acquitted of Newsom's rape. Reportedly, they had dinner at a local restaurantand then visited a friend. Shanann's autopsyconcluded that her cause of death was asphyxiation due to manual strangulation. [7][34][154], Channon Christian's father, Gary Christian, speaks at churches proclaiming how, in Spring 2017, he asked God to restore him from his pervasive anger. She was still alive when they placed her body into black garbage bags, wrapped her head in a white plastic grocery sack, and stuffed her body inside a trash can, where she eventually suffocated to death. These convictions were on lesser charges than her initial convictions. When 21-year-old Channon Christian and 23-year-old Christopher Newsom of Knoxville, Tennessee failed to show up for their best friend's birthday party on Saturday, January 6, 2007, it would be . According to the testimony of the Knox County Acting Medical Examiner, Newsom was sodomized with an object and raped by a minimum of one of the perpetrators. Update 8/13/19:Eric Boyd was found guiltyof Channon and Christophers 2007 murder. He said Davidson later explained, "They had her tied up in the back room.". #searchlist {width:100%; border-bottom: 2px #e5e5e5 solid; margin: 3% 0 5% 0;} The murderers and even the defense argued that Channon and Christopher desired this to happen. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. [73] On January 11, Davidson was arrested in the vacant house. True Crime Diva covers missing persons and unsolved cases around the globe. Update 2/10/15: One of my readers commented below that Coleman had a new trial and was re-sentenced. [48][53][54][57] Her injuries were consistent with being raped with an object. Tortured And Suffocated To Death. Cobbins is the first of four defendants to be tried. Palm prints on channon christian christopher autopsy photos . [28][145] The District Attorney denied most of the original reports containing misinformation; the source was a federal deputy US Marshal after the suspects' arrest in Kentucky.[145]. A Knox County jury has found a man guilty in the brutal murders of a couple 12 years ago in Knoxville. Because we were good friends I knew something wasn't right.". [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. On the same day she left Davidson, she went out with a man she only identified as "Black" to "eat and hang out." Davidson's prints were also found on a box of garbage bags. 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. Unlike the other trials, owing to a long passage of time between the murders and this trial, the jury was empaneled in Knoxville and not sequestered. [20], All of the state convictions were initially set aside because of misconduct by the presiding judge, who has since been disbarred. The front seats were pushed back, and Christian could not have reached the pedals. The floorboard was covered with mud, inconsistent with how Christian maintained her vehicle. At one point, he said he went into the living room where he could see Davidson's girlfriend in the kitchen. Christian and Newsom's families and friends searched the Cherry Street area and found Christian's abandoned Toyota 4Runner between 1:30 am and 2:00 am on Monday, January 8. Christian was bound in a hog-tied fashion with curtains and strips of bedding. And that their friends should be raped and murdered like Channon and Christopher. The couple had only been dating a few months when they decided to go out on a date the night of January 6, 2007. Police seized a computer on which Thomas and Cobbins had been viewing news coverage of the murders. Four males and one female were arrested, charged, and convicted in the case. [16], Vanessa Coleman, the last defendant to face trial,[102] was granted immunity by federal authorities for testimony in the federal case of the carjacking, but the state courts ruled that the federal grant of immunity could not extend to the state charges of murder and rape. Instead of finding him guilty of especially aggravated armed robbery, the jury found Boyd guilty of aggravated armed robbery. [39][43], A witness, who worked as a driver for Waste Connections, arrived at work on Chipman Street at around 12:30 am on January 7. The men tied Christian up with bed sheets andforced her into large trash bags, ultimately suffocating her. There, they reportedly shot himmultiple times. Thanks to lobbying from the families of the victims, two new laws were introduced in 2014 as a result of the case: Murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom, Last edited on 28 February 2023, at 09:34, Pellissippi State Technical Community College, Federal Correctional Institution, Yazoo City, Federal Correctional Institution in Yazoo City, Mississippi, Federal Correctional Institution, Beckley, "Grand jury presentment in Christian/Newsom case", "5 things to know about the Christian-Newsom torture slayings", "Murders of Christopher Newsom and Channon Christian", "Transcript: Davidson says he told Christian he would 'make sure she got out', "10 years later: Remembering Christian-Newsom", "Fifth person charged in gruesome 2007 murders of young Knoxville couple", "Fourth suspect arrested in corpse-burning case", "4 death sentences for LeMaricus Davidson in Christian-Newsom murders", "Lemaricus Davidson gets 80 more years in torture-slaying case", "Cobbins convicted of first-degree murder", "Torture-slayings trial, Day 9: Victims' families: Jury 'let us down' with Letalvis Cobbins verdict", "The verdicts in the George Thomas trial", "George Thomas gets life without parole for Christian-Newsom murders", "Coleman gets 53 years; judge rejects innocent defense", "Newsoms thank George Thomas for testifying against Eric Boyd as judge approves reduced sentence", "LIST: Here's what Eric Boyd was found guilty of in deaths of Channon Christian & Chris Newsom", "Special judge grants new trials for torture-slaying defendants, cites Baumgartner's conduct", New trial dates set for Channon Christian/Chris Newsom defendants in Knoxville, "Tennessee Supreme Court overturns new trial rulings in Christian-Newsom murders", "Judge sentences Vanessa Coleman to 35 years", "Judge's order ensures George Thomas will die in prison for 2007 torture-slayings", "Christopher Newsom and Channon Christian Brutally Murdered As the Nation Looks on", "Critics say news media ignoring Knoxville couple slaying", "Media criticized in slayings with racial overtone", "Time no cure for pain in torture slayings of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom", "From rage to restoration, murder victim's father finds faith", "Christian, Newsom memorialized with scholarships", "The Last Suspect: 'I've Always Had a Mother's Instinct That He Was The One Who Murdered My Son', "Judge warns victim's family about comments to defense attorneys", "Timeline of the Channon Christian-Christopher Newsom murders", "TENN. MAN FACING FOUND GUILTY OF 36 CHARGES IN HORRIFIC 2007 KIDNAPPING, RAPE AND MURDER OF YOUNG COUPLE", "In torture slaying trial, each side interprets evidence differently", "Consent argued in torture-slaying trial", "Graphic details emerge in Christian-Newsom killings", "Christian-Newsom Torture Murder Case: Attending Vanessa Coleman's Retrial", "Horror of Christian/Newsom killings in focus: What happened on Chipman Street", "Guilty again: New trial, similar outcome for Coleman in slaying", "Young Couple, Gruesome Murder, Was it A Hate Crime? [47][48][49][50][59][60] According to Davidson's confession, during Christian's captivity, she said she "didn't want to die. "I told them when I left they were welcome to have whatever food I had," she said. [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. Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom were raped, tortured and killed on January 6, 2007 (Image: CBS) Inside Newsom was repeatedly sodomized with an object and then blindfolded, gagged, arms and feet bound and his head covered. 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. Her ankles were bound with strips of bedding. [3][51], Several items were missing from Christian's vehicle, including a teddy bear and photographs Christian kept there and her phone charger and iPod. An entry from January 9 read: Last night was one of a kind. 10-Years Before Today: Charcoal Cyber criminals Wipe out, Do it yourself Channon Orlando in addition to Captain christopher Newsom. Theassailantsset fire to the scene. 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