In the quiet community of Morristown, nestled within Hamblen County, Tennessee, a dark story unfolded around the Christmas of 1979, forever marking the family of Dorothy Sutton. At fifty-eight years old, Dorothy, a retired schoolteacher who had taken on the responsibility of raising her grandson, became the victim of a brutal crime that would unravel a series of violent acts.
Concerns for Dorothy's welfare arose when she failed to appear at the family's annual Christmas Eve dinner. Her grandson, Nicholas 'Nicky' Sutton, who was eighteen at the time, arrived with scratches on his face and brought presents his grandmother had wrapped, but he came without her. This aroused suspicion among his aunts, who contacted the police after their mother was still missing on Christmas Day. The search for Dorothy ended tragically four days later when her body was recovered from the Nolichucky River. An investigation revealed she had been struck unconscious with firewood at her home, wrapped in a blanket and trash bags, and then chained to a cinder block before being thrown into the river to drown.
Initially, Nicky Sutton offered a confusing and ultimately unbelievable account of his grandmother's death. He claimed to have found her already deceased and, in a state of panic, disposed of her body. He later altered his story, attempting to place the blame on a Knoxville contractor named Charles Almon III, alleging that Almon had killed his grandmother and that he had killed Almon in self-defense. However, the jury did not believe his narrative, and he was convicted of first-degree murder in his grandmother's death, receiving a life sentence.
Following his conviction, the full extent of Nicky Sutton's violent actions came to light. He confessed to the murders of two other men: his high school friend, John Large, and Charles Almon. Sutton led investigators to Large's body, which he had buried in North Carolina. Almon's remains were later discovered by chance in a rock quarry, also weighed down with a concrete block, disproving Sutton's claim that Almon was involved in his grandmother's murder. For these additional crimes, Sutton received further life sentences. His violent streak continued even in prison, where he participated in the fatal stabbing of a fellow inmate in 1985, a crime for which he was ultimately sentenced to death. Nicholas Sutton was executed by electric chair in February 2020.
