Do you know who murdered 28 year old Charles Earles in 2007? In the winter of 2007, the life of a young Knoxville man was tragically cut short, leaving a family searching for answers that have remained elusive for over a decade. On the evening of December 6, 2007, officers from the Knoxville Police Department responded to a call on Cavalier Avenue in the eastern part of the city. There, they discovered 28-year-old Charles Louis Earles suffering from a gunshot wound.
Despite the immediate response, his injuries proved fatal, marking the beginning of a long and painful journey for his loved ones.
The investigation into the death of Charles Earles, a male, has been a protracted one, filled with periods of hope and frustrating silence. While authorities have identified three persons of interest in connection with the homicide, a lack of sufficient evidence has prevented any arrests from being made. For years, the case grew cold, one of the approximately 150 unsolved homicides in Knoxville dating back to 1968. The absence of a resolution has left his family in a state of perpetual limbo, unable to find closure in the wake of their sudden and violent loss.
In a renewed effort to bring justice for Charles, the Knoxville Police Department, accompanied by his family, revisited the neighborhood where he was killed in May of 2018, more than ten years after the incident. They went door-to-door, canvassing the area with the hope that the passage of time might encourage someone with information to come forward. They hoped to jog a memory or appeal to a conscience that might have been silent for years. Despite these renewed efforts and the family's unwavering hope for a breakthrough, the case of who killed Charles Earles remains unsolved, and no charges have ever been filed. The quest for justice continues, driven by the enduring memory of a life taken too soon.