On the evening of January 6, 2007, a young Knoxville, Tennessee couple, 23-year-old Hugh Christopher Newsom Jr., a white male, and his 21-year-old girlfriend, Channon Christian, were headed for a night out with friends. Their plans took a horrific turn when they were carjacked from an apartment complex parking lot. This act of violence was the beginning of a harrowing ordeal that would end in their brutal murders.
The couple was taken to a rental house on Chipman Street, where they were subjected to hours of torture, rape, and ultimately, death.
The following day, Newsom's partially burned body was discovered by railroad tracks, not far from the house where he and Christian were held captive. He had been bound, gagged, shot execution-style, and then set on fire. Inside the Chipman Street house, Channon Christian endured continued brutality for hours after her boyfriend's murder. She was repeatedly raped and tortured before being bound, placed in five trash bags, and stuffed into a trash can in the kitchen, where she was left to suffocate. Her body was found days later after police were led to the house by a fingerprint found in her abandoned vehicle.
The investigation into the heinous crimes led to the arrests of five individuals: Lemaricus 'Slim' Davidson, the ringleader who had recently completed a prison sentence for a prior carjacking; his half-brother Letalvis 'Rome' Cobbins; George 'G' Thomas; Vanessa Coleman, Cobbins' girlfriend; and Eric 'E' Boyd. The subsequent trials revealed the gruesome details of the couple's final hours. Davidson was identified as the primary orchestrator of the crimes.
The legal proceedings spanned several years and resulted in convictions for all five suspects. Lemaricus Davidson was found guilty of both murders and sentenced to death. Letalvis Cobbins and George Thomas were both convicted and received sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Vanessa Coleman was convicted on lesser charges of facilitation of the crimes against Christian and was sentenced to 35 years in prison. For years, Eric Boyd was only convicted on federal charges for being an accessory after the fact for helping Davidson hide from authorities. However, in 2019, he was finally tried and convicted on state charges for his role in the rapes and murders of Newsom and Christian, receiving two consecutive life sentences.
