Christian - Newsom Murder Trials
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On the night of January 6, 2007, Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom disappeared as their friends expected them to arrive at a party. Knoxville police later said they had been carjacked. The bound body of Chris was found the next day near some railroad tracks in East Knoxville. The medical examiner said he had been repeatedly raped, beaten and shot. His body was also burned. The bound body of Channon was found in a trash can in a nearby house two days later. The medical examiner said she was also repeatedly raped, beaten and bleach was poured down her throat. She suffocated in the trash can.
LeMaricus Davidson, Letalvis Cobbins, and George Thomas were arrested a few days later and charged with the murders of the couple. Later, Cobbins' then girlfriend, Vanessa Coleman, was also charged with murder.
Cobbins was found guilty of Christian's murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole on August 26, 2009. Davidson was found guilty of murdering Christian and Newsom and sentenced to the death penalty on October 30, 2009. Thomas was found guilty of murdering Christian and Newsom and sentenced to life in prison without parole on December 10, 2009. Another man, Eric Boyd, was convicted in federal court in October 2008 as an accessory after the jury agreed that he helped Davidson hide following the murders. Boyd was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Coleman's trial is scheduled to begin this spring.
A judge has denied an acquittal Tuesday for George Thomas, the third man convicted in the Christian-Newsom murders. More>>
In a court hearing Friday, Judge Richard Baumgartner agreed to more DNA testing to be included in Vanessa Coleman's trial for the Christian-Newsom murders. More>>
Investigators with the Knoxville Police Department and the Knox County Sheriff's Office are searching for a missing woman Monday after her boyfriend was found murdered Sunday afternoon. More>>
Police say the body of a UT student was found Tuesday in a Knoxville home is just down the street from where her boyfriend was found dead on Sunday. More>>
Four men are charged in connection with the double murder of a young Knoxville couple who was carjacked on a date. And one man, Lemaricus Davidson, may face the death penalty as part of his federal charges. More>>
Eric Boyd was given the maximum sentence for being an accessory to the murders of a Knoxville couple in January 2007. More>>
In a decision that surprised most court observers, Letalvis D. Cobbins was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. More>>
A loud gasp was uttered in the courtroom when the first death penalty sentence was read by the jury foreman as LeMaricus Devall Davidson was given four death penalty sentences for the murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. More>>
Jurors sentenced George Thomas on Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. More>>
