In the summer of 1989, the life of a young Knoxville Police Department officer, Mark Anthony 'Tony' Williams, was tragically cut short. The 24-year-old male was off-duty on the night of July 7th, riding his motorcycle near the intersection of I-40 and Cherry Street. In a sudden burst of violence, Williams was shot three times in the back. Despite his grievous injuries, he managed to exit the interstate, but tragically lost control of his motorcycle and crashed on Cherry Street.
He was rushed to a local hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. Williams, a former University of Tennessee football player who had given up a college scholarship to pursue a career in law enforcement, had only been with the department for three years.
The initial investigation into the shooting quickly focused on two individuals, Johnny Edgar Warwick and Larry Wayne Witt. Witnesses reported seeing the two men, along with a woman, under the interstate in what was suspected to be a drug transaction right before the shooting. Both men were arrested and charged with Williams' murder. However, the charges were ultimately dropped because ballistic tests on their firearms did not match the bullets that killed the young officer. For years, the case grew cold, leaving a lingering sense of injustice for Williams' family and fellow officers.
Decades passed, but the memory of Tony Williams and the desire to solve his murder never faded within the Knoxville Police Department. Approximately five years ago, the cold case was reinvigorated by Sergeant Rodney Patton, who had been an academy classmate of Williams. Working alongside Detective Brandon Stryker and retired FBI Special Agent Paul Hughes, the team meticulously re-examined the evidence. Utilizing new technology, they were able to recreate the shooting scene and re-interview the original suspect, Johnny Edgar Warwick. This renewed effort, with assistance from the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, finally began to piece together the events of that fateful night.
In a significant breakthrough, a Knox County Grand Jury was presented with the newly assembled evidence in December 2023. The grand jury returned a finding of probable cause to charge Johnny Edgar Warwick with the first-degree murder of Tony Williams, stating that he 'did unlawfully, intentionally, deliberately and with premeditation kill Anthony Williams.' This finding brought a long-awaited resolution to the case. However, justice would not be served in a courtroom. Johnny Edgar Warwick died in November 2023, just weeks before the grand jury's decision, effectively closing the 34-year-old cold case. While no conviction could be obtained, the identification of his killer brought a measure of closure to the family and the law enforcement community that had mourned the loss of a promising young officer for over three decades.
