In the summer of 2014, a Knoxville, Tennessee man named Svante Ebinare Hinton, a 35-year-old African American male, found himself in a precarious legal situation. He was on trial for the attempted second-degree murder of his cousin, David Williams, stemming from an incident in August 2012. Hinton claimed self-defense in the shooting, but on July 22, 2014, a Knox County jury found him guilty. As the jury was set to deliberate on an additional charge of a felon possessing a gun, Hinton, who was out on bond, quietly walked out of the courtroom and vanished.
His disappearance triggered a manhunt, and just a few days later, on July 28, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation added him to their Top Ten Most Wanted list. Authorities circulated his description and criminal history, which included burglary and assaulting a police officer, and offered a reward for information leading to his capture.
Hinton was facing a minimum of 22 years in prison for his convictions.
The search for Svante Hinton came to a dramatic and tragic end on September 1, 2014. Acting on a tip, law enforcement officials tracked him to the Gateway Inn on Asheville Highway in Knoxville. As officers approached his motel room around 4:30 p.m. and knocked on the door, they heard a single gunshot from within, followed by a woman's scream. When they breached the door, they discovered Hinton with a fatal self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Emergency medical personnel pronounced him dead at the scene. The woman in the room with him was questioned by authorities but was subsequently released without any charges. The investigation into Hinton's death concluded that he had taken his own life, bringing a somber end to the search for the convicted fugitive.
