Free Republic

It was the kind of crime that strikes terror into the hearts of parents everywhere. A bright young couple were carjacked after a Saturday night date and murdered in the most brutal way imaginable. Christopher Newsom, 23, was tied up and raped, shot in the back of the head and then dragged to a railway track and set on fire. His girlfriend, 21-year-old University of Tennessee student Channon Christian’s fate was even more horrific. Her death came only after hours of torture, during which time she was raped and savaged with a broken chair leg. She was beaten in the...

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Trial is under way in Knoxville for the first of four people charged in the kidnapping, rape and killing of a young couple more than two years ago. As court convened Monday, the judge read each of the 38 counts against 26-year-old Letalvis Cobbins. His attorney, Scott Green, responded by entering pleas. Green said his client pleaded guilty to five counts of facilitating robbery or theft in the carjacking that set the crimes into motion in 2007. He also pleaded guilty to one count of rape. To the remaining counts, Green responded "not guilty." Cobbins — of...