Channon Christian and Chris Newsom ////// 258 | Forensic Files

[Music] [Applause] thank you welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
for listening I'm your host Nick and with me is a man that would like to remind us all that there's always
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remind you that the double champ apologizes to absolutely no one it's good to be seen and it's good to see you
thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend [Music] today we are drinking sham hopnee by the
Brilliant Minds working hard over at the last days of autumn Brewing Company in beautiful Knoxville Tennessee garage
grade four out of five bottle caps this is one of those experiments that just went totally right this is a Belgian
Style Pale Ale with Sierra and mosaic hops ABV 5.5 and this week's beer was brought to us by these crazy turkeys
right here first up from the very mysterious Parts Unknown we have Jean k hi Gene I I thought you were gonna say
the beer fun came from these crazy turds and said turkeys next let's go out east
and give a long distance cheers to Max and Munich Germany and speaking of poopy we have a big long distance shout out to
shoopy and Biz bang Australia and back to Parts Unknown in the old pu we have Ashley peas
all these poop references and P U and a big shout out to Stephen H next up Victoria and a big we like your jib to
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of hush money and last but not least we have Caitlyn in Pardeeville Wisconsin everyone we just named went to True
Crime garage.com and donated to this week's beer fun and for that we thank you and for that we're very thankful and
that is enough that's right everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some
true crime foreign [Music] a beautiful young lady with a successful full life ahead of her and a young man
who worked hard and loved his girl or going out together in Knoxville Tennessee this is not Chicago or New York where
violent crime can be an everyday occurrence this is Knoxville and when a young couple goes out to
dinner and a movie at a friend's house what could possibly go so wrong unfortunately this is a story about when
pure evil randomly crossed paths with innocence January 6 2007. Shannon Christian was 21 years old the
senior seeking a sociology major at the University of Tennessee Christopher Newsome is 23 years old and
was a 2002 graduate of halls High School and a member of the Red Devils baseball
team the two were dating for about two months when they decided to go out that night
Christopher Newsom and Shannon Christian died at a local restaurant and afterward
Shannon spoke briefly with her father and said she and Newsome were planning to visit a friend's house to watch a
movie laughs [Music] now let's go to 2316 Chipman Street Knoxville Tennessee where resident 25 year old Lamarcus
Davidson was broke and angry his girlfriend Daphne Sutton recently left him he had no car and he had no money
he is a robber a thief and a drug dealer he spent six years of his life in prison
and in January of 2007 he was on Parole for carjacking Lamarcus goes by the name Marcus and for
the sake of Simplicity we will call him that Marcus grew up poor in a house with four
other children their mother was pregnant with her first baby Marcus's older sister when she was
just 14. most of the children had different fathers and different last names Marcus's little brother the talvis
commons 24 years old came to Knoxville from Kentucky to stay with him he brought along a friend George Thomas
and a girlfriend Vanessa Coleman none of the three had jobs money or vehicles cobbins and Thomas were homeless let's
listen to Le talvis as he tells us his version of events that took place between New Year's Eve and January 7th
2007. [Music] on New Year's of 0.607 me and my girlfriend and my best friend came down
here to Knoxville to um celebrate New Year's with my brother this is the first new year that he's
been out since we were young teenagers and um I haven't seen them in years and he had went to the penitentiary for
carjacking so I hadn't seen him and I just wanted to reunite with him and see how he was doing I had previously came
down um two or three times before that so um when I came with me my girlfriend my
best friend and his girlfriend came down here we spent New Years together and Stacy Lawson George's girlfriend went
back and we stayed down here I think it was the first new year I mean the first um weekend after New Year's
um on Friday I believe a Friday or Thursday my brother got into it with his girlfriend Daphne
and um he beat her up she she left Saturday afternoon me and my girlfriend Vanessa was in the
back room playing house I should say having sex or whatnot so we get done we go in the living room
where G is watching a movie it's getting dark it's getting around dark my brother
comes in and calls me into the living room I mean to into the kitchen and says um hey you know this girl I've
been telling you about that I want you to meet we finna go over here and meet her she
got a sale for me or whatnot so I want you to come and meet her so I'm like all right but I can't how
I'ma leave you know and Vanessa's here I can't just leave Vanessa like that you're like don't worry about it I'm
gonna take care of that I'm just tell her we going to the store just get your shoes in your coat and come on so I said
all right so um he tells her we're going to the store I get my coat we leave as we're walking
out of the house out of the yard I notice e every boy his car is down the street like two or three houses down the
street he said he's going to take us over there so we get in the car as we get in the car
he and he him uh my brother and E is telling me about this girl how cute she is and how she get money she's a hustler
and they want me to meet her and he says he's been knowing the girl for a while because he used to date her um her
cousin that's how he know the girl so I'm like all right all right so as he's telling me about the girl my brother is
in the passenger seat and he's rolling up a wet blunt well let me explain what what blunt is
um is when someone pulls embalming fluid on Wii and let it dry and then rolled it
up in a blunt so he's rolling up a wet blunt but I didn't know if they went blunt at the
time so I just think it's a regular blunt we smoke weed all the time [Music] he all rolled up the blind he likes it
takes a few pulls off of it and pass it to me I'm smoking as they're both telling me
about this girl that they want me to meet so I noticed the blunt tasted kind of funny but I just thought it was the
flavor of the cigar I didn't think it I didn't think nothing of it so it's it's around dark now it's dark
now and we pulled into some apartments so we're riding around the apartments and we didn't roll around about twice
I'm like what's what's going on while y'all riding around the apartments so he's like man it's been a while since
I've been to her to her crib I gotta remember which one is her crib next thing I know we pull he uh we pull
back in a parking spot he's like that that's our apartment right up there we pulled back he puts the car in park but
he never turns the car off he puts it in park he looks at my brother and they both
jump out of the car [Music] they run right in front of where we just parked to this white SUV I noticed um at
the SUV it was a girl sitting in a driver's side and a guy standing at the driver's side of the door is open and
they're um hugging or kissing or something my brother and EA carjacked these people
and I get out of the car man what what y'all doing what's going on with y'all doing
they pull out he said man follow us I said man what are y'all doing I'm gonna go back to the house I don't want
nothing to do with y'all tripping man y'all tripping you like man we finna go back to the house we're going back to
the house just follow us you don't know where you're going just follow us so I said man
the two people that they just carjacked and kidnapped is Shannon Christian and Chris Newsom
here's Shannon Christian's father Gary Christian to Shannon and Chris at that chart carjacking went down
[Music] you come down your stairs and you go get in the car and you are cranking your car
and your boyfriend gets inside the door they're gonna get him a little sugar boom there's a gun in the back of your
head and some big sucker gets in your Forerunner and puts a gun on you just like that it's done
so I get back in the car I'm I'm not knowing what's what to do what's going on so I'm not familiar with
Knoxville I'm saying man all right I'm gonna follow y'all I'm going we're going back
to the house right he said yeah we're going to the house just follow us I follow them back to the house they Park
the house is here the street goes down this way they park in front of the house I pass them in the white car and park
like three houses down across from this girl named Rhonda Dukes who buys drugs from my brother I park across the street
from her house I start walking back up towards the house the white SUV is facing in the area that I'm coming from
I can tell that it's movement going on inside the truck but it's dark and they don't have the light on inside the truck
so I don't know what's going on but I can tell it's a movement going on so I walk past the truck goes into the um
going to the yard run up to the door boom boom boom beat on the door Giovanni we'll call him G
iovanni comes to the door like man you being like you the police what's going on what's up he looked past me like oh
that's a nice that's a nice truck nice ride who ride to this I said man you don't even want to know man these folks
is tripping you like what you mean I said man they just contact these people man they just contact these people I
don't know man they tripping man they tripping I said look forget that just go and get
your stuff get you get a few things man we gotta get up out of here I don't this
is not the place to be right now we gotta get about here what what vanilla said man she back there asleep so man
all right we gotta get up out of here he's like man what happened I said man I don't even matter what happened we got
to get about her so as I'm telling him all of that my brother walks in with the girl he got
hurt by her arm and he's put his hoodie over her and the uh the hood of the the hood is over her head her eyes are
blindfolded with the um bandana foreign [Music] Every Boy comes in behind him holding the guy the girl is got a
bandana around her eyes and her hands down in front of her he comes in with the guy
holding his arm I noticed the guy has a bandana around his around his eyes and and his hands are tied behind him
so I look at George look like them I know like nodded at George like like go ahead and start
getting your stuff so my brother looked at me and he looks at Eric like yeah go ahead
and do that I said man y'all tripping man dude what is y'all doing y'all tripping you like man whatever so SE and
the guy turns to leave out of the door I leave out of there that whole little thing happened in the little sun room so
I leave out of there going through the living room through the kitchen back to the back bedroom where me and Vanessa
slept I went back there to wake her up George is grabbing his things I wake her up man Vanessa wake up
um get your stuff get your clothes on we gotta we gotta we gotta leave we gotta get up out of here she like baby what's
wrong what's going on I said don't worry about that just grab some of your stuff
we got to get up out of here you know what I'm saying my brother then they tripping they just done some [ __ ] man
just just get your stuff together and we got don't let my brother know what you're doing we gotta get up out of here
so as I'm telling her this my brother calls me to the living room I come in the living room I noticed a
girl I come through the door of the living room I noticed the girl is sitting here against the wall with um
the hood is off of her now I noticed the blindfold is pulled down it's hanging around her neck
um the room the living room was dark the light was off the only light in the in the bit in the living room was the TV
from um the DVD the blue light shining from the TV so I couldn't really tell if our
hands were still bound but to me I think they were I think her hands were still bound
so I go into the living room what's up what's going on man what's good you like man go get me some water out of the dog
out of the kitchen so I go get the water bring it back to him say man y'all tripping man y'all tripping you that
might not only worry about it I said man y'all come on I gotta talk to you man you tripping you're like all right hold
on hold on so he gives the girl the water she drinks it give him give him the club back he gives me the cup he's
hold on just hold on I go back into the kitchen put the cup in the sink just just stand
there like man this man I don't know what's going on today they tripping so as I'm standing I'm starting to feel the
effects of that wet blunt because I've never I never did that my brother have done it before he tried to get me to do
it I'm like if it ain't regular weed I don't want it so I'm I'm starting to feel real ill
real sick so then he comes into the kitchen he's like yeah what's up I said man y'all
tripping man man what what is you doing man do you even know what you doing man don't man you tripping you're like nah
nah I got this man I got this man don't worry about it don't worry about it I got this I said man how you got it man
you just contact these folks and brought them back to your crib man you tripping
man that's dumb that's dumb that's stupid you're like man I got this man I got [ __ ] man look here don't have the
police come looking for me oh some stuff you did man I don't know he's like man I
got if the police do get involved I'll take my charge I didn't miss A continuing before it ain't nothing I
take my charges I say you better I said man and I think that's that's real that's real effed up about you know I
mean how y'all got me out there man why you lie to me like that you like I know if I told you what was going to do you
weren't gonna come so that's the only way I can get you out there tell you you know about the girl I've been telling
you about I said man that's messed up bro I hope your brother do you people tell me man don't worry about it I got
this man you sound like a little girl you want personal makeup [Music] I walked out went back into the back
bedroom where we were um George and Vanessa were he goes back into his room so I see y'all y'all ready y'all got
y'all stuff together [Music] he said oh she said man this is crazy man this is crazy it's over needs well
it never said man baby what's going on you you don't look right what's going on I said man they gave me one of them wet
Blunts and I don't feel good I just want to get up out of here so she said what happened I started telling her what
happened how they carjacked the people so then my brother screamed hey hey wrong hey wrong what y'all back
there doing man y'all making me paranoid my fake oh everybody come in the living room
everybody come in the living room I look around at them man come on y'all so we go in the living room
my brother comes out in the living room what y'all back there doing y'all too quiet y'all too quiet you know I get
paranoid when you get too quiet what's going on I said man will you be asking you what's going on you the one tripping
you don't want to contact these people nah man I told you I got this man why you still tripping man you tripping man
you got you got all us involved in this man you tripping I ain't look man I said
you know what we finna go we ain't got nothing to do with this we finna go you do do what you do we ain't gonna we
ain't gonna Chill on you man you're gonna end up getting caught yourself foreign
[Music] but he just pulls it out I'm like dang bro you gonna you gonna kill me now
you you pull your gun on me you gonna kill me now I'm your bro you gonna kill me
George you know I don't like you anyway I'll shoot you and Vanessa don't make me
shoot your little pretty but so I'm like man y'all y'all y'all sit down I ain't got no choice before you're
going out people ain't got no choice but to sit down sit down he goes back into his room he gets on
the phone he's walking back and forth from his bedroom through the living room to the kitchen back and forth to his
bedroom me um Giovanni was sending the two chairs by the um by the kitchen door Vanessa
she's sitting on the floor crying saying she don't know she don't understand what's going on sitting on the floor
crime I said baby it's gonna be all right stop crying stop crying it's gonna be all
right so my brother has a credit card in his hand he's walking back and forth through
the house with a credit card in his hand G gets up go into the kitchen sits at the table start rolling up a blunt of
weed me and Vanessa go into the kitchen and sit at the table that's what we usually
sit at and smoke weed sit around the table and smoke weed Vanessa here baby um smoke this blunt
see if it make you feel better maybe to help you calm down I said no I think it'll make it worse she said no
just just take a few pools just calm down [ __ ] all right so I took a few pills off the off the blunt but it
didn't do not make me feel worse so as we're not smoking my brother comes to the kitchen door
oh y'all ain't gonna smoke with me I can't I can't hit the blunt I can't hit the blunt George handed him the blunt he
takes the place a matter of fact come here I need to holler at you anyway I look up he said not you I'm talking to G
come here G let me holla at you right quick G look at me he gets up they go into the
living room I can hear my brother saying look you don't trust you so you gotta do
something for me to trust you you gotta do something I mean so I can trust you gotta earn my trust
him and George had got into it previously about a few days before that and um he had [ __ ] up against the wall
or whatnot so I could tell G was kind of scared of him and she was like all right all right I I
so about five ten minutes later G and um my brother leave [Music] [Music] [Laughter]
while they're gone the girl is still in my brother's room Vanessa Vanessa's on telling me her stomach is hurting
so she she gets up goes to the bathroom I tell her that I'm gonna go and check on the girl
because I I go and check on the girl ask her is she okay she says because she get some water
brought us some some water out of the refrigerator went into the room she's laying on the
air mattress with her hands bound over her head she's laying on her back her hands are tied still stop tied like
this and um tied to a duffel bag full of free weights and books and stuff same thing with her with her feet she
her ankles are tied and um it's tied to a duffel bag it's tied to a duffel bag with wasting books in it
I untie her hands well I didn't untie her hands I untied the the string that was going to the duffel
bag I untied it so she could sit up and drink the water I gave her the water she drunk the water like that
she asked me what's going on I said I don't know she asked me where her boyfriend is I
said I don't know she asked me because you smoke a cigarette her cigarettes and her purse
was sitting on the bookshelf behind me I could see a pack of red and white Marlboros
uh on the books fan I said I don't see why not I took a cigarette out lit it for her and gave it
to her she asked me why why why were we doing this I told her it's not me I I don't it's
not me it's not me I don't have anything to do with this I might have faith we're being
held here on the against I will just like you are the only difference is that you're tied up and we're not
you start asking me you start asking me because um would I convince him to let her go
I said I'll try she said just please uh just please she said please can you can can you just
convince him to let me go I said I'll try to say I'll do I'll do anything just please just let me go
I'm cheap she even offered oral sex [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign
[Music] give me oral sex she gave me oral sex [Music] as um [Music] as I started to ejaculate I heard a
noise outside and I heard Vanessa's flushing the toilet so I got spool I jumped up fixed my clothes
because I ejaculated he got on her shirt and some on her pants I fixed my I fixed myself I fixed my
clothes I put her back like I found her and went back into the living room and sat down
Vanessa came out of the bathroom we sat there on the floor sit there looking stupid
a few minutes later slim my brother George both of them come back come back in George was looking crazy
brother came in went back to his bedroom [Music] George came in and went to the back
then sat back at the kitchen table [Music] we sat back at the table all three of us me George and Vanessa
except at the table about 15 to 30 minutes later my brother came and got George and they
left again this time me and Vanessa just sit there in the living room just sat there
[Music] just sat there looking stupid [Music] so my brother and they come back it's
been about an hour and a half to two hours the first time they left they was only
going for like 45 minutes to an hour this time they came back had been hour and a half to two hours
[Laughter] when they come back they they both had on dark clothes so you can't really tell what it is but
you can see a dark stain on on George's clothes and dark stains on my brother's clothes
Joyce went to the back and changed clothes and um my brother changed clothes as well
soon after that every boy came over [Music] every boy came over and um my brother
came out in the living room they talked for a minute and the both of them went back in his in his bedroom
a few minutes later my brother comes out all right come on I'll take you out of his house
so we um we all go out and get into the SUV we ride we go to the store first my brother went and got some cigarettes and
some cigars and um we go to some apartments I I said man what what you doing I thought you
were taking this defense house he's like yeah I gotta check on something right quick hold on hold on until he gets out
goes knock on the door some girl comes to the door he talks to the girl for a minute then we get back in he get back
in the car and we all we all go to Vince's crib Vince wasn't there [Music] so we all came back to the house
every boy he left the house when he came back he didn't have the guy with him so I didn't know what he got was I
didn't know what what happened to him when we was younger my brother would always tell me stories
about how him his friend carjacked somebody or whatever and took him to the ATM and um made them withdraw money and left
them tied up somewhere but he never did nothing to them so my assumption was they they got the guy tied up somewhere
but I didn't think they they did anything to him Eric leave the house and we all just sit there looking stupid
[Music] my brother goes back into his room he um my brother keeps the back the back door
he got a deadbolt lock that you can only open with a key he keeps that lock at all times
he got Nails in the windows where you can open it but it'll only open like that far
[Music] me George and Vanessa went to the back room talking I'm in the back room or whatever
that's the end of Saturday night going into Sunday morning [Music] Sunday afternoon
[Music] pimping the guy named Pimpin that gets um drugs from my brother he came over
to get some drugs from my brother but uh I don't know if he got any or not he didn't come
he didn't he didn't stay at the house long so I don't think he got anything time goes past time goes past
a Sunday night my brother girlfriend Daphne comes over he's called on the phone and told her to
come get her things so she comes over I didn't I didn't really I have forgot that she came over because
I didn't really look up at her I didn't I didn't speak to her or nothing like that so
I I forgot she even came over and what was the purpose in going back to the house uh he said he had clothes
to give me that he got for me and I had makeup still on the house okay so your your intention to go back to the house
was to get clothes and makeup yes when you pull up to the house what do you see um I saw Lamarcus standing in like the
sun room and the front door was open and then we kept a blanket over the door going into the living room
and it was pulled back you see anybody else I saw the talvis sitting in a chair beside the kitchen door
and he really didn't speak to me just had his head down twill on his thumbs or something he didn't speak and he always
spoke to me so you go into the north bedroom yes and why are you going in the north
bedroom to go into the bathroom to try to get my belongings okay of course Mr Davis net when you try to go into the
bed he started following me through there and I got to the bathroom door and it was locked and I asked him if vanessa
was in there okay and tell us what he said okay but you try to get into the bathroom right here yeah I assumed
Vanessa was in there I could hear water running and it sounded like something fell into the sink or something but I
didn't hear anybody speak and we'll be able to get into the bathroom no what did you do then I tried
to go around through the kitchen through the other bedroom to go into the bathroom
and and he grabbed me wouldn't let me go back there okay where was Mr Collins at
he was still sitting in the chair when he prevented when Mr Davidson prevented you from going into the
kitchen what did you then do uh we walked back towards the porch and that's when he gave me the clothes
and what were they in in a Sears bag okay and he tried to give me money I didn't take the money and that's when I
left okay and the clothes that Mr Davidson gave to you you discovered once you opened up the Sears bag they weren't
new clothes correct yes and they certainly hadn't been purchased at West Town Mall that day or the day before had
they no and in fact you now know they belonged to miss Christian don't you yes so wherever that ring came from Mr
Davidson was giving Miss Christian's property to you Sunday afternoon January the 7th 2007. correct
yes [Laughter] wait a minute [Music] Sunday night he um he brings the girl out out of his room
and I noticed that she didn't have any clothes on from the waist down no shoes on no socks
he takes her into the kitchen [Music] he has her in the kitchen me and Vanessa and George he make all of
us come in the kitchen in the back um his utility room make us stand there for a
minute so as we're all standing there he um puts his hand around he puts his arm
around the girl neck tries to kill her tries to choke her he lets her go when she falls
she falls to the floor [Music] we're all thinking that he's he he didn't kill that girl
I said man what are you doing man you tripping so at this point it wasn't even no
talking to him he was just like a madman he was just crazy so I'm not knowing what to do
I'm I'm feeling bad because I didn't get I didn't broke my my girlfriend and my best friend down here and now we're all
caught up in this this madness I don't want anything that happens to them I don't want anything to happen to
me either so I didn't I didn't do nothing to stop it I didn't do anything to stop it
[Music] she when the girl was on the floor my brother waved his gun at Vanessa made her come
and check the girls post and Vanessa said I I don't know I don't know I don't know
so damn my brother gets mad puts the gun to her head and says you better know you better check it and find
out you better know so Vanessa starts crying I don't know I don't know I I can't tell I'm not a nurse I don't know
what to do I don't know he look at me I said I'm not I'm not doing nothing you might as well shoot me
right now I'm not doing nothing man he looks at me and then looks at Vanessa and we'll get this [ __ ] out
here then take her in another room gosh so their point I'm like okay this is our chance this is our chance to
escape we can get out here so I said come on Joy we going to live with you now George you staying here you staying here
with me and so we went in the living room and sat there Vanessa's crying I'm holding her telling her to stop
crying my brother ties the girl up you know in in a fetal position foreign [Music]
[Music] foreign [Music] Newsome's body was found by railroad tracks located near the Chipman Street
house there were three bullet wounds found on his body on January 8 2007 Shannon Christian's
Forerunner was located near the Chipman street address by friends who were searching for the couple
investigators with the Knoxville Police Department were able to process fingerprints found inside the Forerunner
the prints were identified as belonging to Marcus Davidson further investigation
revealed Davidson had a residence at 2316 Chipman Street on January 9 2007 entry was made to the Chipman Street
house via a search warrant and five minutes later Shannon Christian's body was found in a trash can this would
ultimately lead to the arrest of five suspects in this case the Five Arrested are George Thomas latalvis cobbins
Marcus Davidson Vanessa Coleman and Eric Boyd ultimately all five of these individuals would claim some form of
involvement in the brutal rape beatings and torture of both of these individuals
that lasted hours and unfortunately in Chris case days they would all turn on each other they
would admit some involvement but they all kind of removed themselves as being the ringleader or the one ultimately
responsible for what happened to both of these individuals and I know that we played latalvis's version of the events
for you I want to be clear on something here that is not exactly how this all went down while he paints a nice picture
of him not having a lot of involvement in this case if you review the statements given by
the other suspects his involvement is heightened and all of those other statements
all the suspects were scheduled to be tried separately on April 16 2008 Eric Boyd was found
guilty in federal court of being an accessory to a fatal carjacking and for failure to report the location of a
known fugitive Boyd was the only suspect not charged with murder he was sentenced
to the maximum of 18 years in federal prison he is incarcerated at a low Security federal prison in Mississippi
on August 25th 2009 latalvis cobbins was found guilty of the murders of Shannon Christian and Christopher Newsom cabins
faced the possibility of the death penalty because he was convicted of first-degree felony murder in the case
of Christian he was found guilty of facilitation of murder for Newsome cobbins was sentenced to life without
parole on October 28 2009 Lamarcus Davidson was found guilty the jurors unanimously found Davidson should
receive the death penalty for his two first-degree felony murder charges and the two premeditated first-degree
murders of Christian and Newsome in June 2010 Davidson was sentenced to 80 years
for other charges related to the murders the date for his execution has not yet been set but know this Tennessee is
pretty slow when it comes to killing those that deserve to die for their crimes Billy Ray irich was the last
person in Tennessee to be executed and spent 32 years on death row the next man that is scheduled to die is David Earl
Miller who has been on death row waiting for the reaper since 1982. his date with
death is right around the corner December 11 2018 so hopefully this is his last turkey dinner
on December 8 2009 George Thomas was found guilty on multiple counts the jury returned a sentence of life in prison
without the possibility of parole on each of four Capital convictions the convictions of Boyd cobbins Davidson and
Thomas left Vanessa Coleman as the last defendant to face trial she was granted immunity by federal authorities for
Testimony in the federal case on the carjacking but the state courts ruled that the Federal grant of immunity could
not extend to the state charges on murder and rape on May 13 2010 Coleman was acquitted a
first-degree murder but found guilty on lesser charges on July 30th she was sentenced to 53 years behind bars in
October of 2011 the presiding judge at the original trial Richard bumgardner was disbarred after an investigation
revealed that he had illegally purchased prescription pain pills from a convicted
felon under his supervision he had admitted to being addicted to drugs and was accused by a woman of trading legal
favors for sex during breaks and Court sessions these actions were held to have impaired his ability to conduct trials
during his final two years on the bench and compromised all trials he held during this time in December of 2011 a
judge John Blackwood ruled that Bumgarner was impaired and granted new trials to Davidson cobbins Thomas and
Coleman in May of 2012 the Tennessee Supreme Court vacated that ruling and allowed the original convictions to
stand further legal maneuvering eventually resulted in retrials for Thomas and Coleman but not for cobbins
and Davidson facing the same charges as in her first trial on November 20th 2012
Vanessa Coleman was convicted by a jury of facilitation of aggravated kidnapping
rape and murder of Shannon Christian but not of Christopher Newsom Blackwood sentenced Coleman to 35 years in prison
on February 1st 2013 minus credit for time already served Vanessa Coleman the only female charged and convicted in the
crimes is held at the Tennessee Prison for Women in Nashville Coleman was eligible for parole in 2017 and her
sentence is to end no later than 2042. in August 2014 the families of the victims were notified that with good
behavior Coleman's sentence could be reduced by 16 days per month of incarceration making her eligible for
parole consideration at the hearing Coleman was denied parole and her next parole consideration date is set for
December 2020. on May 17 2013 the retrial of George Thomas ended in the verdict of guilty on
all counts he was re-sentenced to life in prison but with the possibility of parole after 51 years in June 2013 judge
Kurtz sentenced George Thomas to two life sentences for the murders in 25 years for the rape so to put it short
and not so sweet Thomas is serving 123 Years to Life Eric Boyd was eligible for release in
the year of 2022 but on March 20th 2018 11 years after the conclusion of the original litigation a Knox County grand
jury returned a 36-count indictment charging Eric Boyd with first degree felony murder first degree premeditated
murder especially aggravated robbery especially aggravated kidnapping and aggravated rape Boyd was transported
from a federal Correction Institute and booked into Knox County jail and held on
one million dollars Bond his new trial is scheduled to start on January 3rd 2019 with motions hearings on December
5th 2018. the house at 2316 Chipman Street was bought by Waste Connections a national
garbage collection company that had a Depot on the next lot Waste Connections demolished the house in October of 2008
and the house was replaced with a Memorial dedicated to Newsome and Christian in 2008 a golf tournament and
Memorial Foundation were established in Shannon Christian's memory to provide a scholarship to the University of
Tennessee a little league baseball tournament and Newsome's honor was held at the Halls Community Park in 2008 and
2009 a Memorial Scholarship is given annually in his name to a graduating halls High School baseball player
foreign [Music] for joining us here in the garage and wish everybody a very happy and safe
Thanksgiving yeah even if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving like your country doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving you
should start you should celebrate it anyways be like I'm just sitting in the garage having a little turkey a little
beer with my good pals Captain and the Nick and if you want a little more captain in the nick make sure you check
out our full Archive of True Crime garage it's available at the Stitcher app and if you want to check out our
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garage and use promo code garage and I'm telling you it's worth it I mean when we
when we signed up to do the show they said it only has to be 10 minutes long every week and we said that's not long
enough that's right that's what she said so we made it longer so it's it's a great show it's a lot of fun and uh
can't thank you enough we are very thankful for you listening this Thanksgiving season and until next week
everybody out there be good be kind and don't let it foreign [Music]

Channon Christian and Chris Newsom ////// 258

Part 1 of 1

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

A beautiful young lady with a successful full life ahead of her. A young man who worked hard and loved his girl. When a young couple goes out to dinner and a movie at a friends house what could possibly go so wrong? Unfortunately this is a story about when pure evil randomly crossed paths with innocence. This week we explore another highly requested case, the torture murders of Channon Christian and Chris Newsome. Beer of the Week - Chamhopnay by Last Days of Autumn Brewing Company Garage Grade - 4 out of 5 bottle caps

Beer Fund: https://truecrimegarage.com/home

Brief Summary

The episode recounts the kidnapping and murder of Shannon Christian and Christopher Newsom in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2007.

Key points

Introducing the Victims. Meet Shannon and Christopher, a young couple with bright futures ahead.
The Calm Before the Storm. In Knoxville, a couple's night out is about to be shattered by violence.
A Night Out Turns Tragic. Shannon Christian and Christopher Newsome's innocent dinner date takes a horrifying turn.
Desperate Pleas. A woman tied up begs for her freedom, offering anything to be released.
Chaos Unleashed. Tension escalates as a man threatens a woman’s life, creating a moment of panic.
The Aftermath. The investigation leads to the discovery of bodies and the arrest of suspects.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Unfortunately, this is a story about when pure evil randomly crossed paths with innocence.

Foreshadowing the tragic events to come.

3:37WatchNov 24, 2022

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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