Murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom
Channon Gail Christian, aged 21, and Hugh Christopher Newsom Jr., aged 23, were a couple from Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. They were kidnapped on the evening of January 6, 2007, when Christian's vehicle was carjacked. The couple were taken to a rental house. Both of them were raped, tortured, and murdered.jury presentment in Christian/Newsom case"> Four men and one woman were arrested, charged, and convicted in the case. In 2007, a grand jury indicted Letalvis Darnell Cobbins, Lemaricus Devall Davidson, George Geovonni Thomas, and Vanessa Lynn Coleman on counts of kidnapping, robbery, rape, and murder. 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. In 2018, Boyd was indicted on state-level charges of kidnapping, robbery, rape, and murder.
Four of the five defendants had multiple prior felony convictions. After a jury trial, Davidson was convicted and sentenced to death by lethal injection. Cobbins and Thomas were convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Vanessa Coleman was convicted of facilitating the crimes and sentenced to 53 years. Eric Boyd was convicted at the federal level and sentenced to 18 years in federal prison for being an accessory after the fact to carjacking. He was convicted on state level charges over a decade later in 2019.
All of the state convictions were initially set aside because of misconduct by the presiding judge, who has since been disbarred. Retrials were originally slated for the summer and fall of 2012. The orders for retrials of Davidson and Cobbins were subsequently overturned by the Tennessee State Supreme Court, and their convictions and sentences stand. The Coleman and Thomas retrials resulted in convictions, but with a reduced sentence for Coleman and the same sentence for Thomas.
Controversy arose due to differing interpretations regarding the media's coverage of the murders. Many people believed that the crimes were ignored because the victims were white while the perpetrators were black. Others, including journalists, disagreed with this assertion. Efforts have been made to remember and honor Christian and Newsom. In 2014, new laws named after the victims were introduced in Tennessee. Both victims have also had [|memorials and scholarships] named after them.
Victims
Channon Gail Christian moved from Louisiana to Tennessee with her family in 1997. She was a graduate of Farragut High School, and a senior majoring in sociology at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. She planned on graduating in December 2007. Channon was 21 years old when she was murdered.Hugh Christopher "Chris" Newsom Jr. was a former baseball player for the Halls High School Red Devils, graduating in 2002. After high school, he attended Pellissippi State Technical Community College and became a carpenter. Newsom was 23 years old when he was murdered.
Murders
On Saturday, January 6, 2007, Christian and Newsom planned to go for dinner together and attend a friend's party. That afternoon, Christian went to a friend's apartment to get ready. At around 8:00 pm, Christian's friend went to the party, and Christian stayed behind and waited for Newsom to pick her up. Newsom arrived, and he and Christian went to the apartment complex parking lot.The assailants observed Christian and Newsom standing close to Christian's vehicle in an embrace. They then decided to attack the couple. Both were forced into the backseat of Christian's SUV at gunpoint, had their hands tied behind their backs, and were taken to Davidson's house at 2316 Chipman Street.
Both Christian and Newsom were raped. Newsom is believed to have been raped inside Davidson's house. According to the testimony of the Knox County Acting Medical Examiner, Newsom was sodomized with an object and raped by at least one of the perpetrators. He was then taken to a set of railroad tracks where he was forced to walk barefoot to the location where he was murdered. Prosecutors believe a mangled dog leash found on a hillside leading up to the railroad tracks was used to force Newsom to walk to his death.
When Newsom was murdered, his hands were bound behind his back, and his feet were bound together. He was blindfolded with a bandana and gagged with a sock. He wore only a shirt and underwear. Newsom was shot in his neck and the back. Newsom survived this shooting initially, but later was shot again in the head. The fatal shot was fired with the gun's muzzle against his head above his right ear, and it severed his brain stem. After killing Newsom, the assailants wrapped him in a comforter, poured gasoline on him, and set his body on fire.
Christian was held prisoner inside Davidson's house, mostly in the north bedroom. Prosecutors believe that Coleman held Christian captive while the male offenders were murdering Newsom. After murdering Newsom, the assailants returned to Davidson's house where they beat and repeatedly raped Christian. The medical examiner testified that Christian died after hours of sexual torture, sustaining severe head injuries and suffering severe injuries to her vagina, anus, and mouth due to sexual assaults. Her injuries were consistent with being raped with an object. According to the medical examiner, the sexual attack Christian endured was "extreme" and "much more than a simple sexual assault." Prosecutors believe that Christian was tied to a chair and orally raped by Davidson and Cobbins. She was also beaten, kicked in her groin, and beaten on the head. Christian suffered extensive hemorrhaging to her head and groin. Additionally, Christian suffered bruises and carpet burns on much of her body. According to Davidson's confession, during Christian's captivity, she said she "didn't want to die."
While Christian was still alive, in order to remove DNA evidence, Christian's attackers poured bleach down her throat and scrubbed her body, including her bleeding and battered genital area, with bleach. Christian was bound in a hog-tied fashion with curtains and strips of bedding. Her face was tightly covered with a small trash bag, and her body was stashed in five large trash bags.
Christian, who was naked except for her camisole and sweater, was tied in a fetal position, placed inside a residential waste disposal unit inside the kitchen of the home, and covered with sheets. The medical examiner testified at trial that there was evidence that Christian slowly suffocated to death. Christian died between the afternoon of January 7 and the afternoon of January 8. As Christian was suffocating to death, Davidson left to spend time with his girlfriend and gave her Christian's personal items. Davidson also used Newsom's cellphone and was seen wearing Newsom's shoes.
Investigation
After Christian and Newsom did not show up at the party, the couple's friends began calling and texting them and received no response. Later, at around 11:00 pm, two of Newsom's friends went to the apartment where the couple had been kidnapped and found Newsom's truck in the parking lot. They were unable to locate Christian's SUV.A witness, who worked as a driver for Waste Connections, arrived at work on Chipman Street at around 12:30 am on January 7. He noticed that the lights in 2316 Chipman Street were on and that the house seemed busy for the time of night. He saw a 4Runner in front of the house with its porch lights on. The witness later observed the 4Runner drive slowly by him. The car slowed down for about 20 seconds as if the occupants were "checking him out". He saw four black men in the car. Another witness who lived around one block from 2316 Chipman Street heard three pops from the direction of the train tracks at about 1:45 am.
Newsom's body was discovered near a set of nearby railroad tracks on January 7 at 12:20 pm by a Norfolk Southern Railroad employee. Though there was semen detected on Newsom's body, the DNA had been destroyed by the fire. A comforter was wrapped around Newsom's body, and a sweatshirt was wrapped around his head. His bare and muddy feet indicated that he had walked barefoot to the area where he was killed.
On January 7, Christian failed to answer calls from her mother and friend. Christian also did not attend work. The couple's friends and families tried to find them, checking local hospitals and filing missing person reports. Christian's parents requested help from law enforcement but were told that they would have to search themselves. They then sought help from Christian's mobile phone provider and learned that her phone had last pinged at a Cherry Street phone tower. 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.
Several items were missing from Christian's vehicle, including a teddy bear and photographs Christian kept there and her phone charger and iPod. 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. Stickers Christian kept on the outside windows had been removed. Inside the vehicle was a pack of Newport cigarettes, even though neither Christian nor Newsom smoked them. Police also recovered an envelope from the vehicle that yielded fingerprint evidence leading them to LeMaricus Davidson of 2316 Chipman Street, an address two blocks from Christian's car.
When police went to 2316 Chipman Street on January 9, they found the house unoccupied and Christian's body in a trash can in the kitchen. Christian's body was stashed in five large trash bags. The bags had Davidson's prints. Davidson's prints were also found on a box of garbage bags. Davidson's sperm was found in Christian's vagina and anus while Cobbins' sperm was found in her mouth. Also inside the house were several items that belonged to Christian and Newsom, including Christian's purse, clothing she had in her vehicle, Christian's shoes, camera, photographs, and iPod and Newsom's baseball caps and driver's license. Several of the victims' belongings had Davidson's prints. The items from Christian's SUV were shoved into trash bags. In addition to the sperm found on Christian's body, Davidson's sperm was found on Christian's jeans while Cobbins' sperm was found on her camisole, sweater, and jeans. Shell casings found at Davidson's house matched the bullets used to kill Newsom.
After finding Christian's body and discovering the presence of Davidson's semen on her clothing and in her body cavities, police undertook a manhunt for Davidson. After receiving phone calls between Davidson and Boyd, they asked Boyd for information regarding Davidson's whereabouts. Boyd directed them to a vacant house. On January 11, Davidson was arrested in the vacant house. There, police found Newsom's size 9½ Nike Shox athletic shoes and a.22-caliber High Standard revolver. Davidson was then interrogated about the murders. He told five different stories, first claiming that he had left the house on Friday and knew nothing of the crimes. He later told police that Cobbins and Thomas arrived at his house at around 10:00 pm on Friday or Saturday and informed him that they had carjacked some people who were in the vehicle. Davidson claimed he saw the victims tied up in the back seat, did not want any part of it, and left to smoke marijuana. He said he returned to the house about 20 minutes later to find Christian, who told him she did not want to die. He then used Christian's vehicle to deal drugs and wiped it clean. Davidson claimed that he did not go past the living room and that he never raped Christian.
On January 11, Thomas, Cobbins, and Coleman were arrested in Lebanon, Kentucky. Police seized a computer on which Thomas and Cobbins had been viewing news coverage of the murders. Police also seized a purse that contained several of Christian's belongings, including her cosmetic bag and change purse. Additionally, police found Christian's overnight bag. Cobbins gave a statement to investigators claiming that he, Davidson, and Boyd drove to an apartment complex for someone to meet a girl. When they arrived, they saw an SUV with a female in the driver's seat. She was speaking to a male. Davidson and Boyd "basically carjacked them" and ordered Cobbins to drive back to Chipman Street. According to Cobbins, Davidson took the woman into a bedroom once they arrived at the residence, and Boyd drove away with the man. Boyd later returned without the male victim. Cobbins denied having any sexual intercourse with the female victim. Coleman admitted to being present in the house during the crimes, claiming that she had been held hostage by the other defendants.
A journal was recovered after the arrests of Thomas, Cobbins, and Coleman. An entry from January 9 read:
Last night was one of a kind. We stayed w/a crackhead that is cool as hell. It snowed a lil bit but it's already melted. Let's talk about adventures! I had one HELL OF AN ADVENTURE since I've been in the big T.N. t's a crazy world these days! But I love the fun adventures lessons that I've learned. Its going to be a long interesting year!
A forensic document examiner verified that the handwriting in the entry matched Coleman's handwriting.