Posted on 02/07/2007 8:11:12 PM PST by Eagles6
Four men are charged in connection with the double murder of a young Knoxville couple who was carjacked on a date.
A Knoxville police spokesman says all four suspects are being held on federal charges related to the deaths of Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23. However, none of the four have been charged with the killings. click to enlarge
All four men were arrested Thursday. They are: Lemaricus Davidson, 25, Eric DeWayne Boyd, Letalvis Cobbins, 24, and George Thomas.
Lemaricus Davidson was in federal court in Knoxville Friday morning. He faces three charges in connection with the murders including federal carjacking and possession of a firearm. Davidson could face the death penalty if convicted.
In affidavits released Friday, Davidson is accused of stealing cell phones from Christopher Newsom and Channon Christian.
Investigators also say Davidson's fingerprint was found in Christian's Toyota 4-Runner.
Eric Boyd was also in federal court Friday. He is charged as an accessory to the crime. According to the complaint, he led police to a vacant home at 1800 Reynolds Street where Davidson was hiding with a .22 caliber revolver.
Boyd said he was supposed to return to that house with food for Davidson. He said the pair had broken into the house and hidden there after intense media attention on the murders.
According to the criminal complaint, Davidson told Boyd the original plan was to do a carjacking. Davidson said one of the suspects walked up to Christian's SUV with a gun and forcibly abducted her and Newsom. He said the suspects took the pair and their SUV to Davidson's house on Chipman Avenue.
Cobbins and Thomas appeared in federal court in Louisville, Ky. Friday. They will face a judge in an extradition hearing on Wednesday, January 17.
According to the U.S. Marshals Office in Kentucky, multiple suspects carjacked Christian and Newsom the night they disappeared.
Newsom was shot multiple times while Christian was held hostage for a number of days before she was also shot to death.
Her body was found in a rental house Tuesday on the 2300 block of Chipman Street in East Knoxville. Investigators also found an M1 carbine rifle there.
Newsom's body was found Sunday afternoon along the railroad tracks near 9th Ave. Christian's SUV was found nearby.
The family of Channon Christian released a statement Friday morning through the Knox County Sheriff's Office. It reads, "The family of Channon Christian would like to thank everyone for all their prayers and everything that has been done during this time. We have lost someone who was very beautiful and loving. We are grateful for the outpouring of help that this community has given us and would not be able to get through this without you. We also want to thank all of the law enforcement agencies for all of their hard work."
I submitted it here http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1780434/posts
but it was relegated to the lesser read General Chat forum. Hopefully it will be on the more widely visited news/activism this time.
With names like Lemaricus and Letalvis I don't think they are Mexicans.
Horrible story that gave me nightmares. I think they threw her body in the trash and burned his body? I have a niece going to UT Knoxville, and it made me really worry about her.
I wouldn't be surprised if this one gets dumped out of breaking news as well. If had put it in front page news, I'd have given it better than even odds to stay in the sidebar.
Not to mention DeWayne.
Remember, the 8th amendment only prohibits cruel AND unusual punishment. That means we can pick one or the other.
Nah...not a hate crime.
Imagine the father finding out that his daughter had 4 or more of these thugs' semen in her mouth, and in an effort to destroy dna evidence before killing her, probably pored drano down her mouth. I bet she was begging to be killed an hour into this multi day horror story.
This is why I recommend every law abiding person, ESPECIALLY WOMEN, be knowledgeable and capable of using lethal force to repel animals like this.
I harass family members until they carry just to get me to shut up.
A number of days? That poor baby. I hope they are all put to death. Any of them could have, over "a number of days", helped her to safety. They all killed her.
Yeah, all you hear on the news these days is the crazy astronaut chick. You can just see the MSM squirming at having to report 4 black guys doing this. Let's not report the news, people, let's just gloss over it as a local thing.
They were found about 5 miles from the campus in a real rough part of town. It's an area where a closed Levi's plant was and several warehouses and industrial businesses. 30 years ago you had to be carefull in that area. It hasn't changed. I don't know where they were actually abducted at but they lived in one of the more safer communities in the county.
UT Campus itself is reasonably safe if you use good judgment such as traveling in small groups at night and never alone especially in places like the parking garages etc.
Ft Sanders a residential area off campus can at times be rough depending on what part of it you're in. I would use caution at night there as well or rather a woman should at least.
The Old City a popular night club/entertainment hang out a person should never go in that area of town alone at night for any reason. It's close to the rail road tracks, close to the bus station and a lot of not so nice vagrants and transients frequent the area. It's safer than it was say 15 years ago when no night businesses were there but hookers but I'd use caution.
Safety in numbers is just good common sense. The Navy even encourages it with sailors visiting ports. 3 or more persons you're pretty safe in Knoxville with a few exceptions like the projects etc.
I'm from Knoxville. In the 1960's and early 70's I would walk from downtown Knoxville at night from the movie theaters to the phone company to catch a ride home with my dad who worked there. We had moved from Knoxville by then. I was about 12-15 years old. I would not walk that area at night now unless I was carrying a good weapon. It started getting rough from the mid 70's on. Now even when I go into an area of town I once lived near called Fountain City I see gang markings on buildings.
I shop in Oak Ridge now usually real late at night but even going there now I carry at least in the vehicle. 5 years ago I didn't feel like I needed to. That as well has changed. I live in a rural area now outside of Knox County in a fairly secluded area off a main road but even there I keep Old Faithful close by.
It changed kinda slow. A murder in Knoxville and a body in garbage bags found scattered in our neighborhood and an old man left murdered on the steps of a church {moved there from his house where he was killed for his Social Security Check}. Yea it pays to keep an eye open. Don't be paranoid but be aware of your surroundings these days.
When I was going to UTK back in the 70s, I lived in an apartment in that area -- 2120 Cecil Avenue. My sister at one time worked in that closed down Levi's plant on Cherry Street. Was not a good part of town even back then.
While researching this I have found that some black radical sites consider these animals role models. kirkland perkins being one. Not being familiar with him, I linked and was shocked and also cyber-attacked. Go figure. There is an element in our society that we pretend isn't there. Whistling past the graveyard.
all we hear too is how dangerous the KKK is with all its "new" members...hell, they could burn a cross or something like that....
My wife long before I ever met her worked the evening shift there around 1970-72. She's told me of at least one scarey night when the cab failed to show up. Finally one did to pick up a couple of other women. The cabbie told her to get in. She said he took her home and had her to signal when she got inside. I knew who the cabbie was then LOL. My late uncle. I showed her his picture and she was surprised.
I used to work on Whittle Springs at a convience store as a night clerk in the late 80's. I never felt safe & I never went unarmed. Everything that happened on Magnolia ave seemed to end up there for some reason. There wasn't any other open business nearby me at night and several years later a clerk in a store across the street I think from it got shot and killed IIRC.
From the looks of it you lived right at Whittle Springs road maybe a block back toward Broadway.
Yeah, exactly - at Whittle Springs, a block toward Broadway. You said you worked at a convenience store on Whittle Springs. Where exactly? My roommate and I would buy groceries at a small grocery store I believe at the intersection of Whittle Springs and Washington Pike. Wow, small world. Remember the Krispy Kreme on Magnolia? That was "old school" in the 70s. Back before it was cool.
"Imagine the father finding out that his daughter had 4 or more of these thugs' semen in her mouth, and in an effort to destroy dna evidence before killing her, probably pored drano down her mouth. I bet she was begging to be killed an hour into this multi day horror story."
I'm a mom who has a lovely daughter in her twenties. I worry constantly about her safety amid the horrors in this world. I say, skip the trials and go right to the executions.
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