March 17, 2026

The Knoxville Nightmare

The Knoxville Nightmare

Part One of a Two Part Series KJ dives deep into the harrowing 2007 Knoxville murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom—a young couple whose weekend turned into a nightmare of unimaginable brutality. She unpacks the shocking details of the...

Apple Podcasts podcast player badge
Spotify podcast player badge
Castro podcast player badge
RSS Feed podcast player badge
Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Spotify podcast player icon Castro podcast player icon RSS Feed podcast player icon
Season 9
Part One of a Two Part Series
KJ dives deep into the harrowing 2007 Knoxville murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom—a young couple whose weekend turned into a nightmare of unimaginable brutality. She unpacks the shocking details of the carjacking, torture, and killings orchestrated by a group of perpetrators in a rundown house.

Timestamps
03:00 Knoxville: A Dreamland
10:07 Evening Plans
24:17 A Disturbing Silence
26:36 Panic Sets In
34:22 Discovery of the Car
46:12 Identification and Shock
52:42 A Father's Mission

#unspeakable #podcast #crime #truecrime
WEBVTT

1
00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:09.119
Welcome to Unspeakable, a true crime podcast where I tell

2
00:00:09.160 --> 00:00:12.480
stories of real crimes with real victims, whose cases are

3
00:00:12.519 --> 00:00:15.080
so shocking that many are left wondering how is this

4
00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:24.920
even real? I use my experiences in law enforcement corrections,

5
00:00:25.239 --> 00:00:28.039
and combined with my years as a criminal justice educator,

6
00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:31.719
dig deep into complex cases of evil acts, some so

7
00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:52.679
evil many feel they are unspeakable. Warning. Unspeakable as intended

8
00:00:52.719 --> 00:00:55.719
for mature audiences. If you are easily offended, then I'm

9
00:00:55.719 --> 00:00:59.240
not your girl. Listening discretion is advised. Hey, y'all, it's

10
00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:01.960
kJ You're back with another episode of Unspeakable. How's your

11
00:01:02.039 --> 00:01:05.359
day going. I am actually on cloud nine right now.

12
00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:08.439
I've had some really big things happening lately and some

13
00:01:08.519 --> 00:01:10.799
projects that I'm working on. Pretty stoked about that. So

14
00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:13.280
I hope that your work week, I hope something great

15
00:01:13.319 --> 00:01:14.920
happens to you as well, or that you have a

16
00:01:14.920 --> 00:01:17.959
project that you're looking forward to that really means something

17
00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:19.879
to you. And I do want to take this time.

18
00:01:19.959 --> 00:01:21.719
I know I normally do my shout outs and I

19
00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:24.159
thank all my listeners and everybody, but I'm gonna just

20
00:01:24.200 --> 00:01:25.840
take a second real quick, and I would like to

21
00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:30.719
genuinely say thank you to Jimothy because you know, we

22
00:01:30.760 --> 00:01:34.159
started this venture a few years ago and he convinced

23
00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:36.079
me that I could do this podcasting thing, when honestly

24
00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:38.680
I didn't think I could. And I bet the farm,

25
00:01:38.840 --> 00:01:41.400
you know, on on he and I and so Jim

26
00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:43.280
I know you're over there doing your production things, but

27
00:01:43.319 --> 00:01:45.680
I'm gonna tell you thank you right here on the

28
00:01:45.719 --> 00:01:47.680
air for all that you do for me and how

29
00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:51.280
much I appreciate you. Now that said, I also want

30
00:01:51.319 --> 00:01:54.439
to tell you this quarterly gifts. It's coming up. It's

31
00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:57.000
almost time for your next quarterly gift. But hear me, people,

32
00:01:57.159 --> 00:01:59.719
heed what I'm telling you. You've got to be in

33
00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:05.000
the crime family level to get the quarterly gifts. Okay,

34
00:02:05.239 --> 00:02:08.800
so if you are a vigilante or you're a gang member,

35
00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:11.319
that is so appreciated and I appreciate you so much,

36
00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:13.360
but you got to be at the crime family level

37
00:02:13.639 --> 00:02:15.319
for me to mail you the gifts. So don't make

38
00:02:15.319 --> 00:02:17.560
that mistake. I'm not trying to short you. If for

39
00:02:17.560 --> 00:02:19.319
some reason you don't get yours, let a girl know.

40
00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:21.840
We'll figure it out. I'll find out what happened. I'm

41
00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:23.520
not gonna ever not send you on if you are

42
00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:27.280
entitled to getting one, so please make sure, like I said,

43
00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:29.439
one more time, you're in the crime family if you're

44
00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:33.599
expecting to get those quarterly gifts. So moving on. Also,

45
00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:36.919
if you go to unspeakable dot com, there is a

46
00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:39.199
merch tab there. People keep emailing me asking, hey, where

47
00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:41.479
can I get merch? Like right now I'm wearing my

48
00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:45.479
unspeakable sweater and it's puff black on black. But you

49
00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:48.000
can make any combination you want. You go to unspeakable

50
00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:50.360
dot com, you click that merch tab and then there's

51
00:02:50.360 --> 00:02:52.360
a link that will take you straight to my website.

52
00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:54.039
If there's something you want and you don't see it,

53
00:02:54.120 --> 00:02:55.719
all you gotta do is email me and I will

54
00:02:55.719 --> 00:02:57.919
make it happen. I am seriously going to be that

55
00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:01.039
invested in you getting the merch that you want. All right,

56
00:03:01.080 --> 00:03:07.199
So let's start this episode today in the beautiful Knoxville, Tennessee.

57
00:03:07.479 --> 00:03:10.319
And everyone knows that when you talk about Knoxville, that

58
00:03:10.439 --> 00:03:13.599
this is the land where dreams are made of There's

59
00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:15.879
a reason that people love to go there to vacation

60
00:03:16.439 --> 00:03:19.479
because it's just one of the most like when you

61
00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:21.960
think salt of the earth people, when you hear that term,

62
00:03:22.280 --> 00:03:24.840
I think of Knoxville, Tennessee, and if you're someone who

63
00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:28.759
likes the country life, if you like music and the

64
00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:32.479
country ways, Knoxville is where it's at. So from that

65
00:03:32.599 --> 00:03:36.240
country music roots, you know, to the gateway of the

66
00:03:36.280 --> 00:03:40.520
Great Smoky Mountains, there is something for everyone in that

67
00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:43.599
part of our country. And while this may sound like

68
00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:46.840
literally a commercial for like their economy and tourism, I

69
00:03:46.840 --> 00:03:49.599
can assure you it's not. I am not benefiting in

70
00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:52.280
any way by telling you that. I truly believe that.

71
00:03:52.759 --> 00:03:56.960
And the amazing University of Tennessee, with its well known

72
00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:00.400
orange and white, stands tall right there in the middle

73
00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:05.639
of that landscape. Alongside a thriving art scene, there's outdoor recreation,

74
00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:09.680
and there's this growing food and craft beer scene also

75
00:04:10.039 --> 00:04:13.199
that people are really taking a liking to there. It's

76
00:04:13.240 --> 00:04:16.600
a perfect place for young people who want to build

77
00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:19.439
a life worth living, to lay down their roots and

78
00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:22.920
to grow right there in this place that they love

79
00:04:23.160 --> 00:04:26.560
so much. And this is exactly what twenty three year

80
00:04:26.600 --> 00:04:29.759
old Christopher, who is known as Chris Christopher knew some

81
00:04:30.040 --> 00:04:35.120
junior was doing. Now. He had been a standout baseball

82
00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:38.319
player for the Red Devils at Hall's High school, And

83
00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:41.759
I'm gonna just say, could it be that he got

84
00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:44.199
his skill from his daddy? Did he get it from

85
00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:47.360
his daddy? Because I don't know if this is the

86
00:04:47.399 --> 00:04:49.199
case or not, but I can tell you that is.

87
00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:54.160
Daddy's nickname is Hugh Knuckleball k Newsome Senior. So you

88
00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:57.360
do with that what you will. But when we talk

89
00:04:57.399 --> 00:05:01.560
about Chris, he was a believer in Jesus and he

90
00:05:01.639 --> 00:05:05.720
was a member of the beaver Dam Baptist Church. So

91
00:05:05.959 --> 00:05:09.600
a little bit to his character and his disposition. This guy,

92
00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:13.959
when you say, happy, go lucky, always smiling, someone who

93
00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:16.879
you just knew was going places. He just had that

94
00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:21.399
temperament of success. You would be you'd be correct if

95
00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:23.560
that is what you were thinking. As I describe him.

96
00:05:23.959 --> 00:05:27.800
His parents were just wonderful people who had raised a

97
00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:31.560
boy into a man and a man that any parent

98
00:05:32.079 --> 00:05:35.759
would be proud of. So after graduation from high school

99
00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:37.360
in two thousand and two, which by the way, is

100
00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:40.879
the same year I graduated, he let go of that

101
00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:45.279
baseball dream and he changed course. He went more business

102
00:05:45.319 --> 00:05:48.040
minded and he wanted to really work on these goals

103
00:05:48.079 --> 00:05:52.639
by attending Pelissippi State Community College. And during this time,

104
00:05:53.079 --> 00:05:56.920
Chris developed a skill set that made him good money

105
00:05:57.319 --> 00:05:59.920
while working with his hands, because he was found to

106
00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:04.720
be a very talented trim carpenter and his professional crown

107
00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:08.480
molding work was getting him noticed. He was that meticulous

108
00:06:08.519 --> 00:06:12.000
and good at it. People appreciated his attention to detail

109
00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:15.759
in their homes. And I could totally see this guy

110
00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:20.040
becoming a contractor in years to come as he matured

111
00:06:20.040 --> 00:06:23.399
and he got more experience, and looking at him, he

112
00:06:23.480 --> 00:06:28.079
kind of gives you this young Kevin Bacon look. Okay,

113
00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:30.959
kind of gives that a little bit but much cooler

114
00:06:31.560 --> 00:06:35.560
sporty vibe with these big, bright blue green eyes. And

115
00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:39.360
I'm gonna just tell you, very handsome, very cool, athletic dude.

116
00:06:40.120 --> 00:06:43.759
And I'm guessing, based on that explanation and description I

117
00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:47.160
just gave you, that is precisely why he caught the

118
00:06:47.240 --> 00:06:51.399
eye of twenty one year old miss Shannon Christian. If

119
00:06:51.519 --> 00:06:55.680
ever there were a new love match made in heaven,

120
00:06:55.759 --> 00:06:59.000
you're hearing about it right now. And Shannon too, I'm

121
00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:02.600
gonna tell you was a beautiful girl and most attractive

122
00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:05.240
about her though. And I know someone might roll their

123
00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:08.879
eyes when I say this, but I truly believe beauty

124
00:07:09.160 --> 00:07:11.879
is it can be shown externally, but it's what's on

125
00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:16.600
the inside that absolutely counts. And Shannon was not only beautiful,

126
00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:21.160
but she was incredibly humble. That is the term used

127
00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:25.040
by so many people when speaking about her. And in

128
00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:30.000
terms of similarity, Shannon too was a believer in Jesus.

129
00:07:30.360 --> 00:07:32.560
She was a member of the West Park Baptist Church

130
00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:36.959
and she was also a student, a full time student.

131
00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:40.079
She was attending the University of Tennessee, and she was

132
00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:44.079
so excited to almost be done. She was in her

133
00:07:44.120 --> 00:07:48.199
senior year and she could just see that diploma right there.

134
00:07:48.279 --> 00:07:50.920
It was coming very very soon. If you've ever gone

135
00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:54.199
to college, man, that last year feels like got drugs on.

136
00:07:54.680 --> 00:07:56.600
I've been here forever, man, just give me the piece

137
00:07:56.639 --> 00:07:59.600
of paper. Well, she was almost there, and she was

138
00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:02.920
so exc to almost be finally done. And with her

139
00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:07.079
long brown hair and those typical early remember the early

140
00:08:07.160 --> 00:08:09.959
two thousand swooped bangs that that girls were doing. They

141
00:08:09.959 --> 00:08:12.519
were kind of heavier swooped. She had that going on.

142
00:08:12.839 --> 00:08:15.480
She looked the part of a girl who had her

143
00:08:15.560 --> 00:08:18.839
life together. She was trendy and she was just a special,

144
00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:23.319
special girl. Well, we're going to go to a Saturday

145
00:08:23.480 --> 00:08:27.160
in January of two thousand and seven, and Chris and

146
00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:30.480
his best buddy Josh decided that they were going to

147
00:08:30.519 --> 00:08:32.039
get up and they were going to go play some

148
00:08:32.200 --> 00:08:34.480
golf on this Saturday. Now, when I say play some

149
00:08:34.519 --> 00:08:36.600
golf golf, I play golf, by the way, My daddy

150
00:08:36.600 --> 00:08:38.559
taught me how to play, and I love it. I

151
00:08:38.600 --> 00:08:40.320
love hate it if you play, you know what I'm

152
00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:45.200
talking about. But they decided to go play. But it

153
00:08:45.200 --> 00:08:46.960
wasn't just going to be like nine holes or something.

154
00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:49.639
I think they played thirty six holes. So they played

155
00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:53.399
two full rounds of golf. It was a beautiful day

156
00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:55.639
for it, and the buddies wanted to make the most

157
00:08:55.639 --> 00:08:57.799
of it. They loved to play. Also, by the way,

158
00:08:57.919 --> 00:09:00.559
Shannon liked to go play golf too. That was another

159
00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:04.320
thing that they hadn't common well. Afterwards, they had plans

160
00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:08.919
for the evening and Chris's buddy's parents were out of town,

161
00:09:09.399 --> 00:09:11.519
so it was one of their birthdays and so they

162
00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:13.639
were going to have a party at the buddy's house

163
00:09:13.960 --> 00:09:17.600
and a lot of people were expected to stay the night.

164
00:09:17.720 --> 00:09:19.159
It seemed like one of those things like we did

165
00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:21.360
in college. You know, everybody's going to be drinking. You know,

166
00:09:21.399 --> 00:09:23.720
we're going to be having a good time. Everybody's old enough,

167
00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:26.600
and so why go drive when y'all can all crash

168
00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:29.240
at the house and the parents are gone. So when

169
00:09:29.240 --> 00:09:33.200
they finished their rounds of golf, Chris rushed home and

170
00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:35.480
he wanted to take a shower and shave and get

171
00:09:35.559 --> 00:09:39.720
good looking because he had to go pick up miss Shannon. Now,

172
00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:42.120
his mama tried to stop him as he ran downstairs

173
00:09:42.159 --> 00:09:44.399
and was going out the front door, and she said, wait, Chris, wait,

174
00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:46.440
let me feed you. Man. You know I've cooked. Why

175
00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:49.879
don't you eat? And Chris was like, Mama, no, I can't.

176
00:09:49.960 --> 00:09:51.879
He threw on his baseball cap and he's like, look,

177
00:09:51.879 --> 00:09:53.679
I'm going out to eat with Shannon. I don't want

178
00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:56.000
to eat at home. We have these plans, but I

179
00:09:56.039 --> 00:09:58.519
gotta go. And he said, I love you, mama, and

180
00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:01.519
he was out the door. Be careful. She yelled it

181
00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:03.600
to him as he went out the door, and he knew,

182
00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:06.039
you're right. He's in his twenties. So the door shut

183
00:10:06.480 --> 00:10:11.080
and the night continued on. Now, as mentioned, the relationship

184
00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:13.639
he had with Shannon, I want you to know was newer.

185
00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:16.320
By newer, I mean they had settled in. They were

186
00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:18.320
at the three month mark of this relationship, so the

187
00:10:18.360 --> 00:10:21.639
honeymoon period I would stay was still on, and he

188
00:10:21.720 --> 00:10:23.320
was in a hurry to go get to his boo.

189
00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:25.440
He couldn't wait to get her. But he had one

190
00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:26.879
air and he had a run before he went to

191
00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:30.320
go pick her up. First, he had to go pick

192
00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:32.600
up Josh, the buddy he was playing, he had played

193
00:10:32.600 --> 00:10:35.399
golf with, and he was going to drop him at

194
00:10:35.399 --> 00:10:38.360
the party house, but they also had to swing by

195
00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:40.639
the bank and pick up some cash before they did that.

196
00:10:40.919 --> 00:10:42.879
One hundred dollars. That should do, right, That's what his

197
00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:45.639
thoughts were, And so he throw a hundred bucks pop

198
00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:48.000
that in his wallet and then he went and he

199
00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:51.799
dropped off Josh at the party house around nine pm

200
00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:55.399
before he returned back to go get Shannon where she

201
00:10:55.720 --> 00:10:59.360
was now. Shannon didn't get to play golf with him

202
00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:01.600
that day. She had work, but she had gotten off

203
00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:04.799
a little bit early, and so she was heading to

204
00:11:04.919 --> 00:11:08.159
her bestie's house. Her bestie's name was Kara, and Caara

205
00:11:08.279 --> 00:11:11.320
lived at the Washington Ridge Apartments where they were gonna

206
00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:13.919
go get ready together. And you know, girls do we

207
00:11:14.039 --> 00:11:16.120
like to talk and giggle and do our makeup and

208
00:11:16.159 --> 00:11:18.279
all that while we're getting ready for the night. The

209
00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:24.200
girls had been friends literally forever, the last fourteen years

210
00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:27.240
of their lives. They had been friends and they were

211
00:11:27.320 --> 00:11:30.519
so much in sync. Just so you understand this, that

212
00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:34.399
not only did they both go to the University of Tennessee,

213
00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:37.399
but they also had the same class schedule. So when

214
00:11:37.399 --> 00:11:39.840
we say attached at the hip, these two girls were

215
00:11:39.879 --> 00:11:43.240
absolute besties. So they were super excited when Shannon got

216
00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:47.279
off early, and so after they ran an errand together

217
00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:48.879
at Target, they had to go return. I think it

218
00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:51.080
was like a TV shell for amount or something. After

219
00:11:51.120 --> 00:11:53.639
they made that return, they went back to the apartment

220
00:11:53.919 --> 00:11:56.720
to start getting ready, but as luck would have it,

221
00:11:57.480 --> 00:12:01.279
Kara had run out of shampoo, the tragedy of a

222
00:12:01.320 --> 00:12:04.200
lifetime before a party going out, and so Shannon said,

223
00:12:04.200 --> 00:12:06.240
no problem, I can pick you up some at the Walgreens.

224
00:12:06.759 --> 00:12:10.639
Thank God for besties, tragedy averted and Shannon brought that

225
00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:14.200
shampoo back for Kara. So as Kara was taking her shower,

226
00:12:14.600 --> 00:12:17.600
Shannon decided to play on the computer. But when Kara

227
00:12:17.679 --> 00:12:20.639
got out of the shower, she could tell that Shannon

228
00:12:20.759 --> 00:12:23.799
was a bit agitated. So still wrapped up in her towel,

229
00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:26.159
she kind of walked over to the computer and said, hey,

230
00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:28.440
what's going on? What's up? You know, what's where? Are

231
00:12:28.440 --> 00:12:31.759
you upset? And it wasn't like she was crying or anything,

232
00:12:31.799 --> 00:12:34.159
but Shannon had been sick for the last few days

233
00:12:34.200 --> 00:12:36.840
and so she really wasn't that hungry. But Chris was

234
00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:40.279
insisting that they go out to eat and get a snack,

235
00:12:40.360 --> 00:12:43.679
and Shannon honestly just didn't want to go. She wanted

236
00:12:43.720 --> 00:12:46.799
to just get to the party, and so she said,

237
00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:49.159
you know, I wish I could just go with you.

238
00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:52.200
Kara said, well, come with me and y'all can meet

239
00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:54.919
up there, and She's like, no, I can't. Chris wants

240
00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:56.120
to pick me up and I'm going to go eat

241
00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:59.279
with them, but then we'll be there to the party.

242
00:12:59.799 --> 00:13:02.679
So what happened was she was going to just wait

243
00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:05.519
at the apartment for Chris to get there and pick

244
00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:07.200
her up. They would go eat, and then they would

245
00:13:07.240 --> 00:13:11.440
go meet up at the party house afterwards. There was

246
00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:13.320
kind of a they didn't really know. It was up

247
00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:16.559
in the air. Either Shannon and Kara would stay at

248
00:13:16.559 --> 00:13:19.120
the house with everybody, or the two girls were going

249
00:13:19.200 --> 00:13:21.320
to come back and spend the night at the apartment together.

250
00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:24.480
At Kara's apartment, the girls had already picked out their

251
00:13:24.519 --> 00:13:26.399
outfits for the night too. They were so excited to

252
00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:28.600
get dulled up. It was just going to be epic, okay,

253
00:13:28.919 --> 00:13:33.279
huge party, and Shannon was feeling super confident in these

254
00:13:33.879 --> 00:13:36.960
nice blue jeans that she had. She had these pink

255
00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:39.399
high heels that she was totally stoked to be rocking,

256
00:13:39.799 --> 00:13:44.840
topped off with this striped sweater of multiple colors, including

257
00:13:44.840 --> 00:13:47.759
that hot pink, and these pink earrings. It was very

258
00:13:48.200 --> 00:13:51.600
two thousands, but very on point with the fashion of

259
00:13:51.639 --> 00:13:54.799
the time. And as Shannon was just about ready for

260
00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:58.200
the night, Kara was already ready to leave, and so

261
00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:01.679
she said, look, I'm going to jet out. She said,

262
00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:03.480
why don't you just ride with me? Come on, let's

263
00:14:03.480 --> 00:14:05.559
just go now, but Shannon said, no, I'm gonna wait

264
00:14:05.559 --> 00:14:08.639
for Chris. He'll be here shortly. So Shannon and walked

265
00:14:08.679 --> 00:14:10.840
Kara out to her car. They talked it over a

266
00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:13.559
few other details for the evening, and then it was like, okay,

267
00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:15.960
no worries, I'll see you there girl. They hug each other,

268
00:14:16.360 --> 00:14:19.120
Kara jumped in her car and she left for the party.

269
00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.440
Now about nine pm, Okay, nine pm rolls around and

270
00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:29.200
Kara has an h oh moment because she's already at

271
00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:32.120
the party. And while she's there, there's this big bay

272
00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:34.360
window and she's looking out of it and she sees

273
00:14:34.519 --> 00:14:38.759
Chris pull up and drop Josh off at the party.

274
00:14:39.240 --> 00:14:40.759
And the reason I say it's an uh oh moment

275
00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:43.480
because she's like, oh no, she was already supposed to

276
00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:45.919
go get Shannon. It's been like an hour. You know,

277
00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:48.960
she's gonna be pissed. Shan is gonna be pissed that

278
00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:51.960
he's just now dropping Josh off. So, being the good

279
00:14:51.960 --> 00:14:54.639
friend that she was, she picked up her phone and

280
00:14:54.679 --> 00:14:57.200
she made a call to Shannon and saying, look, Josh

281
00:14:57.399 --> 00:14:59.799
just left here, but he is on his way to you.

282
00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:01.919
Don't be mad. I know you've been waiting almost an hour.

283
00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:04.720
And Shannon was like, are you fricking serious? I mean

284
00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:07.279
she was almost in tears, like, God, you know, I've

285
00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:11.240
been waiting forever for him. But minutes later, her prince

286
00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:15.080
arrived at the apartment complex to pick her up. All

287
00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:18.559
was well again, and she was back being giddy with excitement,

288
00:15:18.919 --> 00:15:21.360
and she jumped in the car and they were ready

289
00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:25.399
to head out, but first maybe they should just sneak

290
00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:29.360
a little kiss or two just to say hello. But

291
00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:34.279
when another hour passed and the two never showed up

292
00:15:34.279 --> 00:15:37.759
at the party, people were really starting to wonder what

293
00:15:38.039 --> 00:15:42.720
was taking so long. Caro was blowing up Shannon's phone,

294
00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:47.200
Josh was blowing up Chris's phone, and no matter how

295
00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:50.639
many times they called or whether they texted, neither one

296
00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:53.879
of the couple would answer the calls. And after another

297
00:15:54.080 --> 00:15:57.960
hour went by with no calls or texts back, the

298
00:15:58.039 --> 00:16:01.559
guys were genuinely now kind of worried about what may

299
00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:04.879
have happened to Josh and Shannon. So around eleven PM,

300
00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:08.440
with all of these twenty somethings kind of confused by

301
00:16:08.440 --> 00:16:10.759
this failure to respond because it was very out of character,

302
00:16:12.360 --> 00:16:15.240
they kind of started talking and no matter what, you

303
00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:17.399
need to know this about these friends. You know your friends,

304
00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:19.879
don't you You know their I like to say you

305
00:16:19.879 --> 00:16:21.720
know their algorithm, but you know what they do, you

306
00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:24.440
know their temperament, you know the things that get them going,

307
00:16:24.519 --> 00:16:28.639
and you know their behaviors. Well, no matter what, I

308
00:16:28.679 --> 00:16:32.799
don't care good, bad, or indifferent. Whenever Kara called Shannon,

309
00:16:32.879 --> 00:16:35.879
Shannon would always answer or text her, and if she

310
00:16:35.960 --> 00:16:37.600
was in the middle of something, she'd say I'll call

311
00:16:37.639 --> 00:16:40.799
you right back or something. But Shannon wasn't saying anything.

312
00:16:41.720 --> 00:16:46.519
But you know, Chris wasn't either. So the guys decided

313
00:16:46.519 --> 00:16:49.080
to load up in the car and head over to

314
00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:52.600
the Washington Ridge apartments to check on them. And honestly,

315
00:16:53.480 --> 00:16:56.600
they were figuring that maybe the couple might have slightly

316
00:16:56.600 --> 00:17:00.080
gotten off task and maybe we're spending some alone time

317
00:17:00.120 --> 00:17:03.960
together and had lost track of time. But when the

318
00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:09.079
guys got there, they see Chris's truck It's still parked there,

319
00:17:09.319 --> 00:17:14.720
but Shannon's SUV was missing. She drove a silver Forerunner. Well,

320
00:17:14.759 --> 00:17:18.440
this stood out as very odd because if there was

321
00:17:18.519 --> 00:17:22.039
anything about this couple that anyone knew that, it was

322
00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:25.920
that if they went somewhere, Chris was always the one

323
00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:31.039
driving them around. Not sometimes, not usually, this is a

324
00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:33.920
all the time thing. It was. It was chivalrous. He

325
00:17:34.039 --> 00:17:37.880
believed in driving his girl around and they would always

326
00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:41.200
take his truck. Now, I don't have information on this,

327
00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:43.759
but I will tell you that when I was that age,

328
00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:46.720
I was still on my mama and daddy's car insurance,

329
00:17:46.920 --> 00:17:49.480
and you know they paid the bill. They bought the car,

330
00:17:49.640 --> 00:17:52.079
and so nobody else was allowed to drive my car.

331
00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:54.920
I kind of got the feeling that was the situation here,

332
00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:58.359
but as young college kids do, they kind of shrugged

333
00:17:58.359 --> 00:18:01.319
it off. Okay. They went over to the truck and

334
00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:04.720
they started messing with Chris's truck. They turned the mirrors

335
00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:06.960
the wrong way, they got them jacked up. They walked

336
00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:09.000
up and they pulled out the windshel wipers and had

337
00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:10.759
them sticking out, like should I would do to people?

338
00:18:10.839 --> 00:18:12.680
Still today I do that to people's cars. I probably

339
00:18:12.680 --> 00:18:14.759
wouldn't do it to Jimithyszou because he would probably jump me.

340
00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:18.079
But I still today do that to people's cars just

341
00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:20.400
because I like to be annoying. So they messed with

342
00:18:20.440 --> 00:18:25.599
the car, and then as they were leaving, they also

343
00:18:25.720 --> 00:18:28.440
did him a solid. They did Chris a huge solid

344
00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:31.079
because they noticed that his golf clubs were still in

345
00:18:31.119 --> 00:18:33.640
the bed of the truck and it had begun to drizzle.

346
00:18:33.960 --> 00:18:35.960
So they got those out of the back of the

347
00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:38.599
truck and they put them in their vehicle because they

348
00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:40.519
didn't want them to get rained on, and they knew

349
00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:42.880
that that wouldn't be something Chris would be happy about.

350
00:18:43.640 --> 00:18:46.519
So they left and the party that night continued on

351
00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:50.519
throughout the night without Shannon and Chris, which was weird

352
00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:53.400
as hell. I'm not gonna lie, but they're twenty somethings

353
00:18:53.440 --> 00:18:55.720
and they're you know, twenty somethings are known to do

354
00:18:55.880 --> 00:18:59.200
spontaneous things and they don't need their friend's approval for

355
00:18:59.319 --> 00:19:02.279
it either. They can do what they want. And the

356
00:19:02.359 --> 00:19:06.200
overall consensus was pretty much that, well, maybe they needed

357
00:19:06.240 --> 00:19:10.240
some alone time together, maybe they got an argument. Hell

358
00:19:10.359 --> 00:19:13.119
they didn't know, although that wasn't likely. That was kind

359
00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:16.960
of the feeling throughout the evening. Now, at the same time,

360
00:19:17.640 --> 00:19:21.319
across town, there was another group of friends that were

361
00:19:21.319 --> 00:19:24.839
getting together as well. Okay, so this group that I'm

362
00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:26.920
talking about is rather large, so I'm gonna try to

363
00:19:26.920 --> 00:19:30.640
introduce them periodically and give you a lot of clarification

364
00:19:30.839 --> 00:19:32.640
so that as I'm telling the story, I wanted to

365
00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:35.599
flow easily and you'd be able to keep up with everybody.

366
00:19:35.640 --> 00:19:41.720
So let's start at another address in Knoxville, and this

367
00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:45.079
is going to be twenty three sixteen Chipman Street. Now

368
00:19:45.160 --> 00:19:47.559
you don't have to remember that address, obviously, but this

369
00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:53.359
is the home of LaMarcus Davidson. Now, this home in

370
00:19:53.640 --> 00:19:58.599
reference to the apartments where Kara and Shannon had gotten

371
00:19:58.599 --> 00:20:01.839
Ready was just about an nine to ten minute drive

372
00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:06.440
roughly three and a half miles for geographical reference, so

373
00:20:06.440 --> 00:20:08.200
that in your mind you can kind of figure out

374
00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:11.200
what I'm saying when I go through the story. So,

375
00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:16.720
LaMarcus shared this home with his girlfriend Daphne, and they

376
00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:19.839
didn't own it. It was a rental, but that was

377
00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:23.799
where they were living. Now. The relationship between these two

378
00:20:23.960 --> 00:20:27.240
was a bit rocky, and at times they would fight

379
00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:30.160
and they would go through periods of makeup and break up. Well,

380
00:20:30.200 --> 00:20:32.519
the same night that we've been discussing that Chris and

381
00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:35.000
Shannon and their friends were supposed to be partying, this

382
00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:40.279
was the exact situation for this couple. At that same time,

383
00:20:40.359 --> 00:20:45.400
they were fighting and it was nowhere near being resolved

384
00:20:45.480 --> 00:20:49.240
that evening, and things would eventually get so bad that

385
00:20:49.400 --> 00:20:53.039
Daphne was like, screw this, I don't even be here anymore.

386
00:20:53.079 --> 00:20:57.680
I'm done. I'm leaving, bye bye. So when she said that,

387
00:20:58.039 --> 00:21:00.319
it almost gave the air of like she was done forever,

388
00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:02.880
Like I want to break up with you, I'm over it,

389
00:21:03.279 --> 00:21:07.519
I'm out, And she left, But LaMarcus wouldn't be left

390
00:21:07.559 --> 00:21:10.640
alone to cry or to be bitter about it, because

391
00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:14.000
matter of fact, he had company over who witnessed all

392
00:21:14.039 --> 00:21:16.359
of this drama. But they kind of just ducked their

393
00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:18.799
heads and steered clear of the couple during the fight

394
00:21:18.839 --> 00:21:20.359
because they didn't want to get it was awkward. You

395
00:21:20.359 --> 00:21:22.920
don't want to get in the middle of another couple fighting.

396
00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:27.640
And Lamarcus's half brother was one of those people that

397
00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:29.240
was there. Now, I'm just going to refer to him

398
00:21:29.240 --> 00:21:30.960
as his brother, but I know someone will come at

399
00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:32.680
me and say it wasn't. His brother was his half brother,

400
00:21:32.759 --> 00:21:36.799
so I'm being very clear. But Lamarcus's brother, his name

401
00:21:36.920 --> 00:21:42.160
was Latalvias, and Latalvis was in town visiting LaMarcus. He

402
00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:45.759
had come in from Kentucky, and as he came in,

403
00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:49.519
he didn't come alone. He came with his girlfriend, Vanessa,

404
00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:53.079
and there were also two other people with them. Okay,

405
00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:56.359
so there was a houseload of people there and they

406
00:21:56.359 --> 00:21:58.920
were coming in to visit together for a few days

407
00:21:58.920 --> 00:22:02.240
in Knoxville and just kind of have a good time.

408
00:22:02.680 --> 00:22:09.359
So after Daphne leaves, LaMarcus, Latalvis, Vanessa, and these two

409
00:22:09.400 --> 00:22:13.440
other people are hanging out. Now the additional people that

410
00:22:13.480 --> 00:22:15.920
were in the car that came in from Kentucky. Their

411
00:22:16.039 --> 00:22:20.440
names were George Thomas and Stacy Lawson. Now I know

412
00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:21.759
you're like, damn, Kelly, you just threw a bunch of

413
00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:24.279
people at me. It's cool, calm down. I'm gonna work

414
00:22:24.359 --> 00:22:27.119
us through this as I tell this story. So when

415
00:22:27.240 --> 00:22:29.480
Daphne left the house, she was in a huff. She

416
00:22:29.559 --> 00:22:34.359
was pissed off. Latalvis LaMarcus, Vanessa, and George all continued

417
00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:38.119
to chill together and hang out. Now this is somewhat

418
00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:42.039
of a motley crew in that out of all of them,

419
00:22:42.359 --> 00:22:45.920
every one of these adults, only one of them held

420
00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:50.119
a job, and that person happened to be Daphne, who

421
00:22:50.200 --> 00:22:52.839
was the one who had just left the house. So

422
00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:55.319
this left the rest of them to hang out and

423
00:22:55.519 --> 00:22:59.720
to sleep all day with no responsibilities, so to speak. Of.

424
00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:03.079
The only hobby really that they had and that they

425
00:23:03.079 --> 00:23:06.039
spent time doing was smoking weed, and then they would

426
00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:09.440
go play a pickup basketball game every now and then,

427
00:23:09.559 --> 00:23:12.640
But their main schedule consisted of sleeping until late afternoon,

428
00:23:13.079 --> 00:23:18.160
waking up, smoking weed, and then partying together all night. Well,

429
00:23:18.359 --> 00:23:21.440
the Saturday that we're talking about would be no different.

430
00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:24.160
That was what they were gonna do. So they all

431
00:23:24.200 --> 00:23:28.319
partied throughout the night, and then early Sunday morning, the

432
00:23:28.359 --> 00:23:30.839
parties were coming to an end. So it was around

433
00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:34.279
three point thirty am when Kara arrived back at her

434
00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:39.519
apartment and she noticed that Shannon still wasn't back yet.

435
00:23:39.640 --> 00:23:42.720
It's like, what is the deal? You know? She goes inside,

436
00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:45.880
She's looking around. Nothing is a miss. Shannon's not there.

437
00:23:45.960 --> 00:23:47.519
Her bag that she had brought with all of her

438
00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:51.680
stuff to get ready was gone, So Kara is still

439
00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:55.519
a bit confused. She gets ready for bed, brushes her teeth,

440
00:23:55.559 --> 00:23:57.359
and then she goes and she actually dozes off to

441
00:23:57.400 --> 00:24:01.119
sleep while waiting for Shannon to call her back. So

442
00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:04.960
time passes and both of the two separate parties that

443
00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:08.960
I've mentioned their parties had died down. Everybody was asleep,

444
00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:12.759
all of their bodies now attempting to metabolize the food

445
00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:18.759
and the alcohol and the weed consumed throughout those nighttime hours. Now,

446
00:24:18.759 --> 00:24:21.759
while most of the people mentioned thus far in the

447
00:24:21.799 --> 00:24:25.559
story would get to sleep in, Shannon was not one

448
00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:28.359
of them. Because Shannon was employed. She worked at the

449
00:24:28.359 --> 00:24:31.039
local shoe show and she was doing this while she

450
00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:34.359
was going to college and she was scheduled to work

451
00:24:34.839 --> 00:24:39.279
one Sunday and to open the store. But management was

452
00:24:39.319 --> 00:24:43.319
really upset with her whenever she never showed up. But

453
00:24:43.359 --> 00:24:45.920
that was until they realized, wait a minute, this is

454
00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:50.720
Shannon that no showed absolutely not. I mean, she had

455
00:24:50.720 --> 00:24:53.440
been an employee there for a long time. It wasn't

456
00:24:53.480 --> 00:24:55.880
like she was just this little part timer or something.

457
00:24:56.279 --> 00:24:59.119
She had worked there a while, she was prompt, she

458
00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:02.799
was a dependable employee, and although young, she was actually

459
00:25:03.039 --> 00:25:06.480
classified as a keyholder, so she had duties above that

460
00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:10.000
of just the entry level employment. This was completely out

461
00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:13.799
of character for her, and Shannon's work was so concerned

462
00:25:13.839 --> 00:25:15.759
that she wouldn't answer the phone when they were calling

463
00:25:15.799 --> 00:25:18.640
her that they decided to pull her personnel file and

464
00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:22.920
call her mama to make sure that everything was okay. Now,

465
00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:25.960
that call made to her mama wasn't made until around

466
00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:30.039
three pm on that Monday, So when Shannon's mama got

467
00:25:30.039 --> 00:25:34.559
the call, everything in her felt like there's got to

468
00:25:34.599 --> 00:25:38.799
be something very wrong. Now. Why well, number one, because

469
00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:40.759
that's her daughter, okay, and she knows her daughter. But

470
00:25:40.839 --> 00:25:44.480
number two, she was already worried when she had fallen

471
00:25:44.519 --> 00:25:48.000
asleep the night before, because Shannon had called her and

472
00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:50.319
laid out her plans for the evening. She said, Mama,

473
00:25:50.680 --> 00:25:54.480
I'm going to come home around three am, whenever this

474
00:25:54.559 --> 00:25:58.359
party wraps up, I'm going to head back to the house. Well,

475
00:25:58.400 --> 00:26:00.519
because it was already late when she got the phone call,

476
00:26:00.799 --> 00:26:04.319
Mama decided to stay up and wait for Shannon to

477
00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:08.200
get home. But Shannon never walked in the door. So

478
00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:11.480
as the alarm bells are initially signaling that, you know,

479
00:26:11.559 --> 00:26:14.680
this call from the manager that is very concerning, there

480
00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:17.839
was also another person who was very worried to at

481
00:26:17.839 --> 00:26:21.400
the same time, and it was Kara, Shannon's bestie. Because

482
00:26:21.400 --> 00:26:24.359
when Kara woke up that following morning, she had continued

483
00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:26.759
to try to reach Shannon, but she would not answer

484
00:26:26.759 --> 00:26:31.119
the phone. So Kara jumped in the shower, got cleaned up,

485
00:26:31.200 --> 00:26:33.240
and then she decided to go back over to the

486
00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:35.880
house where the original friends were from the party from

487
00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:39.880
the night before. And when she got there, still no

488
00:26:39.960 --> 00:26:43.480
one at that home had heard from Chris or Shannon either,

489
00:26:43.839 --> 00:26:47.119
And by now it's early afternoon and the friends are

490
00:26:47.240 --> 00:26:51.720
legitimately concerned that this is too out of character now

491
00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:56.039
to ignore. Now they discussed what did you say, what

492
00:26:56.039 --> 00:26:58.079
did Shannon say the last time you saw her? And

493
00:26:58.200 --> 00:27:00.400
Kara knew that Shannon was fine when she left the

494
00:27:00.400 --> 00:27:03.079
apartment the night before, but when she had gotten home,

495
00:27:03.160 --> 00:27:05.640
she still wasn't there. Nothing was out of place, nothing

496
00:27:05.680 --> 00:27:09.599
was amiss, except that Shannon wasn't there. But that morning,

497
00:27:09.799 --> 00:27:13.880
when Kara woke up, she noted Chris's truck was still

498
00:27:14.279 --> 00:27:17.799
parked there, and it now occurred to her that the

499
00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:21.200
couple never seemed to ever even return to the apartment

500
00:27:21.240 --> 00:27:24.559
complex like at all, because the SUV of Shannon's was

501
00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:28.160
still gone. Now to most people that wouldn't raise an eyebrow,

502
00:27:28.200 --> 00:27:31.599
but again, Shannon never drove when the couple went somewhere,

503
00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:36.799
and Chris would never drive her vehicle. So Kara knew, Okay,

504
00:27:36.839 --> 00:27:39.400
this isn't right. I have got to call Shannon's mama.

505
00:27:39.799 --> 00:27:43.400
But in lies another issue. At the moment, Kara had

506
00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:45.240
just gotten a new cell phone and so she hadn't

507
00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:48.279
saved Shannon's mama. Her name was Miss Dina. She hadn't

508
00:27:48.319 --> 00:27:50.880
saved Miss Dina's number, so calling her was out of

509
00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:52.759
the question in that exact moment because she didn't have

510
00:27:52.799 --> 00:27:54.559
her number. She would have to physically go over to

511
00:27:54.599 --> 00:27:58.319
the house to talk to her. But that wouldn't have

512
00:27:58.359 --> 00:28:01.839
to happen because very shortly as all of this is unraveling,

513
00:28:02.599 --> 00:28:06.079
Kara's phone rings and it's Miss Dina calling her. Now,

514
00:28:06.119 --> 00:28:09.039
Miss Dina is pretty upset with her because she's kind

515
00:28:09.039 --> 00:28:11.440
of like another daughter, and she's like, look, I've been

516
00:28:11.480 --> 00:28:14.839
calling you, I've been calling Shannon. Neither of y'all or

517
00:28:14.920 --> 00:28:18.039
answering the phone. What the hell is going on? Why

518
00:28:18.119 --> 00:28:20.920
is Kara not at work? Because remember, Kara's a good person.

519
00:28:21.079 --> 00:28:23.720
Excuse me, Shannon's a good person, she's a good employee,

520
00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:28.759
and this is just not acceptable behavior. But when Kara

521
00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:32.039
explained to her miss Dina, I haven't seen her either.

522
00:28:32.119 --> 00:28:35.039
I haven't been able to find her all night, Miss

523
00:28:35.079 --> 00:28:37.880
Dina instantly went sick. I mean she could feel it

524
00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:41.799
in her gut that this is huge, this is bad.

525
00:28:42.119 --> 00:28:46.440
And so Shannon's family didn't waste one second trying to

526
00:28:46.559 --> 00:28:49.599
hunt Shannon's location down. Not a start, and I have

527
00:28:49.640 --> 00:28:53.119
to give huge kudos to this family. They weren't playing around,

528
00:28:53.599 --> 00:28:56.359
they didn't pass go, they didn't collect two hundred dollars.

529
00:28:56.559 --> 00:29:00.359
Those parents immediately wanted to talk to Chris's pay parents.

530
00:29:00.359 --> 00:29:03.279
Why because they wanted to locate Chris. But the young

531
00:29:03.400 --> 00:29:08.279
friends were hesitant to give Chris's parents numbers number to

532
00:29:08.440 --> 00:29:10.680
Shannon's parents because they were afraid that they were going

533
00:29:10.759 --> 00:29:12.640
to get their friends in trouble, even though they didn't

534
00:29:12.680 --> 00:29:14.920
quite know what was going on. You know what if

535
00:29:14.920 --> 00:29:16.559
they went to a hotel and they stayed the night together.

536
00:29:16.599 --> 00:29:17.960
You know, they're not supposed to do that. They didn't

537
00:29:17.960 --> 00:29:20.759
want to get him in trouble, but their gut over

538
00:29:21.319 --> 00:29:23.640
ran their minds on this one, and they did give

539
00:29:23.799 --> 00:29:27.519
the phone number to Shannon's parents. So as for Chris

540
00:29:27.519 --> 00:29:30.240
in this moment, his parents were none the wiser that

541
00:29:30.279 --> 00:29:32.599
he was even missing. They had expected him to spend

542
00:29:32.599 --> 00:29:34.680
the night with his buddies at the party, so him

543
00:29:34.680 --> 00:29:36.759
not being home yet wasn't even an issue. They were

544
00:29:36.759 --> 00:29:40.559
just going about their day as usual, completely unaware that

545
00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:43.079
something was a miss. And that was until Shannon's parents

546
00:29:43.160 --> 00:29:47.000
called them. When they realized that both of their kids

547
00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:51.440
were missing, everyone sprung into action, and this is starting

548
00:29:51.880 --> 00:29:56.160
by Shannon's family calling the cell phone provider for Shannon's phone.

549
00:29:56.240 --> 00:29:59.240
I thought that was genius. A lot of people wouldn't

550
00:29:59.240 --> 00:30:01.799
go that director, but that is what her mama did,

551
00:30:02.279 --> 00:30:05.400
and obviously they had tried to call them and they

552
00:30:05.440 --> 00:30:07.680
couldn't get a hold of the kids. So that's when

553
00:30:07.720 --> 00:30:11.440
they contacted the provider. Now, Shannon's mom luckily was the

554
00:30:12.640 --> 00:30:16.759
account holder for that account, and so the provider was

555
00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:20.440
willing to give her the information of the physical location

556
00:30:20.920 --> 00:30:23.559
of the cell phone. And this proved very, very useful

557
00:30:23.960 --> 00:30:26.960
because the last phone call that had been made from

558
00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:31.480
Shannon's cell phone the night before didn't use the tower

559
00:30:32.160 --> 00:30:36.559
near Kara's apartment, which is what they fully expected. It

560
00:30:36.599 --> 00:30:39.240
actually hit a cell phone tower near a street called

561
00:30:39.319 --> 00:30:42.759
Cherry Street when that call was made, and that call

562
00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:46.839
was said to be made around twelve thirty three PM.

563
00:30:47.880 --> 00:30:53.519
Now this was concerning because twelve thirty three she had

564
00:30:53.519 --> 00:30:56.440
called and spoken to her mama and her daddy. Why

565
00:30:57.039 --> 00:30:58.960
was it not pinging off of the tower near the

566
00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:02.160
apartment complex where she was supposed to be. So this

567
00:31:02.279 --> 00:31:05.519
meant that either Shannon, or at least her cell phone

568
00:31:06.160 --> 00:31:10.559
was in unfamiliar territory. So both sets of parents and

569
00:31:10.799 --> 00:31:14.079
friends and everyone that they could get together met at

570
00:31:14.200 --> 00:31:16.759
Kara's apartment to make a plan and they were all

571
00:31:16.799 --> 00:31:19.440
going to set out and search for that phone based

572
00:31:19.480 --> 00:31:22.240
on its physical location, because the cell phone company told

573
00:31:22.279 --> 00:31:25.880
them that where the phone was pinging from it should

574
00:31:25.920 --> 00:31:30.559
be within I think they said three they could get

575
00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:33.160
within like six hundred eight hundred feet of where they

576
00:31:33.160 --> 00:31:36.400
thought the cell phone would be. That seems kind of small,

577
00:31:36.519 --> 00:31:38.920
that's just based on what the family had said. But

578
00:31:39.039 --> 00:31:44.000
Chris's parents they took his truck home while Shannon's dad, Kara,

579
00:31:44.440 --> 00:31:46.559
and all these friends jumped in the cars and they

580
00:31:46.599 --> 00:31:49.880
set out running over to Cherry Street. And once they

581
00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:54.400
got there, they dispersed and they started searching. Now what

582
00:31:54.440 --> 00:31:57.759
their plan was was to do that find my phone feature,

583
00:31:57.799 --> 00:32:01.200
basically to ping that phone, and they were all listening

584
00:32:01.240 --> 00:32:02.920
for it to see if they could hear that phone

585
00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:06.440
pinging somewhere. So as they're going up and down the streets,

586
00:32:06.680 --> 00:32:09.319
they had only been down one or two streets when

587
00:32:09.359 --> 00:32:13.039
Shannon's brother alerted, oh my god, here is her car.

588
00:32:14.839 --> 00:32:19.440
So Kara and mister Gary that Shannon's dad, they pull

589
00:32:19.519 --> 00:32:23.759
up and they notice immediately that it didn't it looked

590
00:32:23.799 --> 00:32:26.559
like Shannon's car, but there was something amiss because Shannon

591
00:32:26.599 --> 00:32:31.720
had stickers all over her windows. But as they're looking

592
00:32:31.799 --> 00:32:34.119
at the front of the car, they realized, wait a minute,

593
00:32:34.119 --> 00:32:37.799
there is one sticker still there. And the thing was

594
00:32:37.960 --> 00:32:41.720
it was the power te of Tennessee, the orange and

595
00:32:41.720 --> 00:32:44.000
white tea, I think that's what they call it. But

596
00:32:44.160 --> 00:32:46.559
it was in a precarious spot because if you were

597
00:32:46.599 --> 00:32:48.440
sitting in the car, you would never see it. But

598
00:32:48.480 --> 00:32:52.440
from the outside it was on the windshield behind where

599
00:32:52.599 --> 00:32:55.519
the rear view mirror would be, and it was still there.

600
00:32:56.000 --> 00:32:59.279
They knew by that sticker this had to be her car.

601
00:33:00.039 --> 00:33:01.759
But when they're looking in the windows of the car,

602
00:33:01.880 --> 00:33:04.519
there was another thing odd. Shannon had just cleaned out

603
00:33:04.519 --> 00:33:08.160
her closet and her car. The trunk of the suv

604
00:33:08.319 --> 00:33:11.799
had been packed to the brim with trash bags full

605
00:33:11.839 --> 00:33:13.880
of clothing that she was going to bring to the

606
00:33:13.880 --> 00:33:17.559
good will. But none of those bags, nor any of

607
00:33:17.599 --> 00:33:21.480
that clothing or anything was there. The car was nearly empty.

608
00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:27.759
But there was another thing that was standing out as well.

609
00:33:27.920 --> 00:33:31.759
Shannon's parents were extremely strict that if we buy you

610
00:33:31.839 --> 00:33:34.039
this car, and this is the one that you want,

611
00:33:34.079 --> 00:33:36.519
if we get this for you, you will maintain it

612
00:33:36.799 --> 00:33:39.039
and that will include keeping it clean. You're not going

613
00:33:39.119 --> 00:33:43.079
to trash this vehicle. She upheld that end of the deal.

614
00:33:43.319 --> 00:33:48.359
To a t thing was looking in the in the windows.

615
00:33:49.200 --> 00:33:53.599
The car had mud on the floorboards, on the rugs,

616
00:33:53.640 --> 00:33:56.799
you know, the carpeting of the vehicle. And Shannon would

617
00:33:56.799 --> 00:34:02.279
have never allowed that, never she knew better. Also, it

618
00:34:02.400 --> 00:34:06.960
was pretty obvious that the driver's seat was pushed all

619
00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:09.719
the way back, way too far for Shannon to have

620
00:34:09.760 --> 00:34:13.079
been comfortably driving, or reached the steering wheel to be driving.

621
00:34:13.119 --> 00:34:16.199
It obviously massive issue. And they go ahead and they

622
00:34:16.239 --> 00:34:21.039
place the call to police. So when police arrive, they

623
00:34:21.039 --> 00:34:24.239
obviously take possession of the vehicle. And after they talked

624
00:34:24.239 --> 00:34:26.880
to the family and they get some questions answered, the

625
00:34:26.960 --> 00:34:31.639
family was released to go home. And basically, just wait,

626
00:34:34.119 --> 00:34:37.199
what are they waiting for? I don't know. And when

627
00:34:37.239 --> 00:34:40.719
I say this, it made me think about the movie Titanic,

628
00:34:41.400 --> 00:34:45.639
whenever they talk about what people were waiting for in

629
00:34:45.679 --> 00:34:48.280
those boats after it sank, and it's like, were they

630
00:34:48.320 --> 00:34:51.559
waiting for a savior? Were they waiting for an absolution

631
00:34:51.719 --> 00:34:54.079
that would never come? Were they waiting what they had

632
00:34:54.119 --> 00:34:57.800
no idea? What they were waiting for just was complete sorrow.

633
00:34:58.280 --> 00:35:01.119
That's kind of how I feel. This was very empty feeling.

634
00:35:01.800 --> 00:35:03.920
So they had to just wait for a phone call

635
00:35:04.599 --> 00:35:08.159
with God knows what information to come, and they didn't

636
00:35:08.199 --> 00:35:12.119
know when. So the following morning, which would have been

637
00:35:12.119 --> 00:35:15.159
a Monday, all of the family and friends decided to

638
00:35:15.159 --> 00:35:18.079
meet back up at Kara's apartment to make a plan

639
00:35:18.199 --> 00:35:20.800
for the day. They needed to find Chris and Shannon.

640
00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:23.000
They knew the police were working on it, but they

641
00:35:23.039 --> 00:35:26.440
could not stand idle. They needed to find their kids. Well,

642
00:35:26.519 --> 00:35:29.559
Chris's best friend, the one that went and played golf

643
00:35:29.599 --> 00:35:32.840
with him, this is going to be Josh Anderson. He

644
00:35:33.079 --> 00:35:36.639
was there and Chris and Josh's friendship. I gotta tell

645
00:35:36.639 --> 00:35:39.039
you this real quick. It's kind of cute. It started

646
00:35:39.119 --> 00:35:41.639
off kind of funny. They met in sixth grade. How

647
00:35:41.679 --> 00:35:44.519
did these two meet. It's well, not what you think.

648
00:35:44.679 --> 00:35:46.800
They actually got in a fight with one another. That

649
00:35:46.960 --> 00:35:49.679
was how they met. And after the dust settled, they

650
00:35:49.679 --> 00:35:52.239
shook on it. They dusted themselves off, and from that

651
00:35:52.320 --> 00:35:55.840
moment forward best friends. I think that's really cool. That's

652
00:35:55.880 --> 00:35:58.599
a cool young guys story about how they became best friends.

653
00:35:58.880 --> 00:36:01.440
But they had been best friends in sixth grade, and

654
00:36:01.519 --> 00:36:04.039
so Josh was there. He was gonna go find his buddy.

655
00:36:04.039 --> 00:36:06.599
He was gonna go find his buddy's girlfriend, And just

656
00:36:06.639 --> 00:36:09.480
as they were making the plans to go set out

657
00:36:09.800 --> 00:36:13.280
and search for the missing couple, Josh received a phone

658
00:36:13.280 --> 00:36:18.000
call from Chris's brother. And everyone's looking at his face

659
00:36:18.719 --> 00:36:22.119
and it quickly shifted. And while they did not know

660
00:36:22.159 --> 00:36:25.079
what was being said to him, they could tell whatever

661
00:36:25.239 --> 00:36:28.840
was being said to him must have been nothing short

662
00:36:28.920 --> 00:36:33.519
of shocking. Everyone around him sat there, They leaned in.

663
00:36:33.559 --> 00:36:37.599
They're looking at him, stressed and full of anxiousness. What

664
00:36:37.760 --> 00:36:41.679
is happening? What what tell us? But the news that

665
00:36:41.840 --> 00:36:47.199
was about to be shared was gut wrenching, and the

666
00:36:47.239 --> 00:36:51.559
information he was hearing was actually based on the finding

667
00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:56.239
the police had found the day before, on that very Sunday,

668
00:36:56.320 --> 00:36:59.599
January the seventh, when they had been out looking and

669
00:36:59.639 --> 00:37:05.159
they fell Shannon's car. So let's back up to that day.

670
00:37:05.199 --> 00:37:09.039
It was about eight fifteen am on that Sunday when

671
00:37:09.159 --> 00:37:12.800
a locomotive engineer, his name was Jay Ford. He was

672
00:37:12.920 --> 00:37:20.000
arriving to the Norfolk Southern Core Corporation's train yard and

673
00:37:20.039 --> 00:37:23.199
he had plans that day to take his train on

674
00:37:23.280 --> 00:37:26.800
a trip between Knoxville and Chattanooga. He got to the

675
00:37:26.800 --> 00:37:29.719
train station around eight fifteen am and once they got

676
00:37:29.760 --> 00:37:32.280
everything settled. He was supposed to set out around noon,

677
00:37:32.559 --> 00:37:34.440
and this should have been a four hour trip from

678
00:37:34.519 --> 00:37:38.880
point A to point B. Now they got the train

679
00:37:38.920 --> 00:37:41.400
of going, got it up to speed, and it's chuggle

680
00:37:41.440 --> 00:37:46.480
lugging along. When he came across a cross street with

681
00:37:46.719 --> 00:37:51.559
that very cherry street where Shannon's cell phone was expected

682
00:37:51.559 --> 00:37:57.880
to be. Now in that area there was an industrial business.

683
00:37:58.400 --> 00:38:01.239
It was a waste management type building business that was

684
00:38:01.320 --> 00:38:04.239
right there, like a warehouse. And as the train's a chuggin,

685
00:38:05.119 --> 00:38:08.400
he notices in the distance, about fifty or seventy five

686
00:38:08.480 --> 00:38:12.440
yards ahead, that there was something smoldering very close to

687
00:38:12.559 --> 00:38:14.960
the track. Obviously, this caught his eye because he wanted

688
00:38:14.960 --> 00:38:17.360
to know what it was, and he believed it to

689
00:38:17.400 --> 00:38:20.800
be a big like a tree trunk or something that

690
00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:25.239
was on fire. But as they got closer, it just

691
00:38:25.719 --> 00:38:28.000
didn't look like a tree anymore, and so he leaned

692
00:38:28.039 --> 00:38:32.159
out of the window of his locomotive, and as he

693
00:38:32.239 --> 00:38:35.239
got closer and closer, it looked less and less like

694
00:38:35.280 --> 00:38:39.280
a trunk of wood and much more like a human body.

695
00:38:40.360 --> 00:38:42.599
But not believing his own eyes, even though he was

696
00:38:42.599 --> 00:38:45.480
looking at it, not believing his own eyes, he leaned

697
00:38:45.480 --> 00:38:47.519
out and he kind of like looked down as the plane,

698
00:38:47.840 --> 00:38:50.760
excuse me, as the train passed by, and he thought,

699
00:38:50.760 --> 00:38:54.400
for a second, what did I just see? Before he

700
00:38:54.440 --> 00:38:57.199
went up to talk to the conductor and he said, dude,

701
00:38:57.239 --> 00:39:01.679
that that seriously looked like a human body on fire

702
00:39:01.920 --> 00:39:04.719
next to the track. And he said, what do you mean.

703
00:39:04.760 --> 00:39:06.880
He's like, dude, I mean I could see the less

704
00:39:06.960 --> 00:39:09.719
burnt parts of the body, and he's like, that's thighs

705
00:39:10.159 --> 00:39:12.760
and that's legs. Dude, that's not a mannequin. He was

706
00:39:12.840 --> 00:39:15.760
so upset by it that they actually decided to stop

707
00:39:15.840 --> 00:39:19.400
the train, get out and walk back to be one

708
00:39:19.480 --> 00:39:22.559
hundred percent certain surely his eyes had just deceived him.

709
00:39:22.599 --> 00:39:25.199
That's not something you see on the daily. So he

710
00:39:25.280 --> 00:39:29.239
jumps off the train and he starts walking backwards, and

711
00:39:29.280 --> 00:39:32.079
as he gets closer, nothing short of of a bolt

712
00:39:32.079 --> 00:39:35.000
of terror like struck his body because he realized, oh

713
00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:37.960
my god, this is a person and this person has

714
00:39:38.039 --> 00:39:44.239
been burned to a charcoal. Horrific injuries. So he ran

715
00:39:44.320 --> 00:39:46.960
back to the train. He jumped on, he grabbed his radio,

716
00:39:47.039 --> 00:39:49.880
he radioed the chief dispatcher, oh my god, I just

717
00:39:49.920 --> 00:39:52.920
found a body, and he was directed through dispatch, you

718
00:39:53.000 --> 00:39:56.960
stay there. Authorities are on the way. When the police arrived,

719
00:39:57.840 --> 00:40:04.000
the shock and realization really settled in with this conductor

720
00:40:04.039 --> 00:40:07.840
that he had just seen a nude person burned horrifically

721
00:40:07.960 --> 00:40:10.480
right there in front of his eyes, and just became

722
00:40:10.679 --> 00:40:15.599
very emotional at the shock of it all. Well, police

723
00:40:15.639 --> 00:40:18.599
on scene, they were very certain they had just come

724
00:40:18.679 --> 00:40:22.119
upon something extremely nefarious. They documented the scene, they took

725
00:40:22.119 --> 00:40:25.280
photographs before that body was collected and was sent to

726
00:40:25.320 --> 00:40:29.320
the morgue for autopsy. The identification of this person would

727
00:40:29.320 --> 00:40:32.800
obviously have to wait because he was burned, his head

728
00:40:32.880 --> 00:40:37.280
was wrapped up in something completely covering the head, and

729
00:40:37.320 --> 00:40:41.920
so no immediate facial idea was possible. He had no clothing,

730
00:40:42.519 --> 00:40:45.760
so obviously no documentation, no wallet or anything like that,

731
00:40:46.159 --> 00:40:47.599
so he would have to just be checked in as

732
00:40:47.679 --> 00:40:52.079
John Doe until they could identify this person well once

733
00:40:52.440 --> 00:40:55.679
at the medical Examiner's office the following day, which was

734
00:40:55.760 --> 00:40:59.440
this very Monday. Now that Josh is getting this phone call,

735
00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:05.239
the autopsy had been conducted and what this body had

736
00:41:05.320 --> 00:41:09.599
been through, I do want to warn you is horrifying

737
00:41:09.639 --> 00:41:13.480
and it's going to be beyond any reasoning or understanding

738
00:41:14.039 --> 00:41:18.079
of what a person's body should ever go through. But

739
00:41:18.119 --> 00:41:20.199
when the body was removed from the holding fridge and

740
00:41:20.199 --> 00:41:23.639
it was laid out on the examination table, experience alone

741
00:41:24.159 --> 00:41:27.800
told the medical examiner that this person had been burned

742
00:41:27.840 --> 00:41:32.039
inside of something before the body was exposed the way

743
00:41:32.079 --> 00:41:34.639
it was, and she knew this because there were still

744
00:41:34.719 --> 00:41:38.960
remnants all around the body and melted to it. And

745
00:41:39.320 --> 00:41:41.280
it was determined that he must have been wrapped in

746
00:41:41.320 --> 00:41:47.719
a comforter before set on fire. Greater than eighty percent

747
00:41:48.360 --> 00:41:55.199
of this body was burned until charring, meaning blackened. The thighs,

748
00:41:55.639 --> 00:42:00.840
the shins, the feet, and some portion of the back

749
00:42:00.880 --> 00:42:06.199
of the body were spared. But other than that total destruction,

750
00:42:07.079 --> 00:42:11.239
the body was that of a male. Now, he was barefoot,

751
00:42:11.480 --> 00:42:14.280
and they knew that he must have walked to his

752
00:42:14.360 --> 00:42:17.400
final resting place because the bottoms of his bare feet

753
00:42:17.400 --> 00:42:23.280
were caked in mud. His legs were bound with a

754
00:42:23.400 --> 00:42:28.920
leather belt around his ankles. Now, I do have crime

755
00:42:28.960 --> 00:42:31.360
scene photos which I will put on Patreon, and when

756
00:42:31.400 --> 00:42:32.920
you're listening to this and then you go look at

757
00:42:32.960 --> 00:42:34.719
the photos, it's not going to match. But I want

758
00:42:34.760 --> 00:42:36.280
to explain that to you so you don't think that

759
00:42:36.320 --> 00:42:40.639
I'm just saying something here. His ankles had been bound

760
00:42:40.840 --> 00:42:44.360
with the leather strap like I said, but underneath the

761
00:42:44.400 --> 00:42:49.280
ankle leather strap, there was also another binding there out

762
00:42:49.320 --> 00:42:51.239
of some type of material. It looked to be like

763
00:42:51.320 --> 00:42:53.480
maybe a floral sheet or something like that. So his

764
00:42:53.559 --> 00:42:57.320
legs had been bound or his ankles twice. His arms

765
00:42:57.840 --> 00:43:01.000
had also been bound behind him back, so he was

766
00:43:01.039 --> 00:43:04.880
completely immobilized. However, when you look at the crime scene photo,

767
00:43:05.079 --> 00:43:06.639
it's going to look a little bit different. But this

768
00:43:06.800 --> 00:43:10.280
is explained by the medical examiner that because the fire

769
00:43:10.440 --> 00:43:13.079
there was a flash fire and then he had burned.

770
00:43:13.559 --> 00:43:15.639
Because of the intensity of the heat of that fire,

771
00:43:16.119 --> 00:43:19.639
it caused the bindings to come undone because the muscle

772
00:43:20.320 --> 00:43:23.559
spasticity combined with the heat that it popped it basically,

773
00:43:23.599 --> 00:43:26.280
and the arms drew up up around the front of

774
00:43:26.320 --> 00:43:29.239
the body. But you could see around pieces of the

775
00:43:29.400 --> 00:43:31.960
of the arms that there had been ligatures there. Plus

776
00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:34.519
they had remnants of ligature, so they knew that he

777
00:43:34.519 --> 00:43:37.159
had been bound behind his back. One arm remained behind

778
00:43:37.159 --> 00:43:39.000
his back. The other one, like I said, the heat

779
00:43:39.039 --> 00:43:42.119
had curled it up when the muscles were burned. So

780
00:43:42.199 --> 00:43:46.000
the medical examiner carefully removed the wrap from around this

781
00:43:46.079 --> 00:43:52.039
guy's head, which uncovered even more brutality because underneath that

782
00:43:52.800 --> 00:43:55.440
the man had a gag in his mouth. And this

783
00:43:55.559 --> 00:44:00.639
was a very primitive gag because it was a sock

784
00:44:01.440 --> 00:44:06.079
that was shoved completely in this guy's mouth. Now, the

785
00:44:06.119 --> 00:44:10.599
medical examiner carefully removed this sock out of the discedent's

786
00:44:10.599 --> 00:44:14.559
mouth and noted that it was soaked in blood. The

787
00:44:14.599 --> 00:44:17.679
cause of the blood, though, was not from the fire. Now,

788
00:44:17.800 --> 00:44:21.480
let me explain the sweatshirt that had been wrapped around

789
00:44:21.519 --> 00:44:24.559
his head. As they took it off, the examiner noticed

790
00:44:24.559 --> 00:44:26.840
that there was a hole in the sweatshirt. And it

791
00:44:26.880 --> 00:44:29.159
was not a hole that looked to have been worn

792
00:44:29.199 --> 00:44:31.960
into it or something like that. It looked like it

793
00:44:32.000 --> 00:44:37.679
had been created by a bullet. So whenever they took

794
00:44:37.719 --> 00:44:40.679
it off, sure enough, they were able to locate that

795
00:44:40.719 --> 00:44:43.719
this was a gunshot wound. It was a hole through

796
00:44:43.719 --> 00:44:46.159
the sweatshirt, and there was a gunshot wound in the

797
00:44:46.159 --> 00:44:49.880
decedent's head right above his right ear and in a

798
00:44:50.039 --> 00:44:54.639
downward trajectory through his head. And so this explained why

799
00:44:54.639 --> 00:44:57.079
there was so much blood coming out of his mouth

800
00:44:57.119 --> 00:45:01.000
and absorbed into the sock. It also had blood coming

801
00:45:01.000 --> 00:45:03.840
out of his ears. Again, this is from the damage

802
00:45:03.840 --> 00:45:07.159
that was created from that bullet traveling through his brain

803
00:45:07.480 --> 00:45:10.599
and doing all that damage as it went downwards. Now,

804
00:45:10.719 --> 00:45:14.360
the wound itself had some stippling, and I know you're

805
00:45:14.360 --> 00:45:16.079
going wait, I thought he was burned. Well guess what.

806
00:45:16.960 --> 00:45:20.280
In a way, the sweatshirt wrapped around his head actually

807
00:45:20.280 --> 00:45:23.280
had preserved his head somewhat, and so they were able

808
00:45:23.320 --> 00:45:27.559
to see all of this, and there was stippling around

809
00:45:27.679 --> 00:45:31.719
that wound that indicated that whoever had shot this man

810
00:45:32.119 --> 00:45:38.000
had done it at point blank range. The sweatshirt had

811
00:45:38.039 --> 00:45:42.199
stopped the face from being completely melted away, but even

812
00:45:42.239 --> 00:45:46.920
with the sweatshirt removed, there was another partial covering over

813
00:45:47.000 --> 00:45:50.119
his face. So under the sweatshirt, the man also had

814
00:45:50.159 --> 00:45:54.880
a bandana tied over his eyes, acting as a blindfold.

815
00:45:55.719 --> 00:45:59.840
When the blindfold was removed and the face was fully revealed,

816
00:46:00.920 --> 00:46:05.159
another painful shock hit one of the detectives who was

817
00:46:05.199 --> 00:46:11.280
there during this because he recognized him. He said, my god,

818
00:46:12.039 --> 00:46:17.079
it's Chris. That's Chris Newsom. He played baseball with my son.

819
00:46:18.760 --> 00:46:21.440
And you can't help but think in that moment he

820
00:46:21.519 --> 00:46:24.159
had to be looking at Chris Newsom going this could

821
00:46:24.159 --> 00:46:26.639
have been my son. That he played ball with, my son,

822
00:46:26.679 --> 00:46:29.159
and now he's laying here on this table burnt to

823
00:46:29.239 --> 00:46:32.719
Helen back, how does this happen? You know, this is

824
00:46:32.760 --> 00:46:34.920
not the type of people we are. This doesn't happen

825
00:46:35.679 --> 00:46:40.840
to us. But it had, and there Chris lay. So

826
00:46:40.880 --> 00:46:44.480
as the medical examiner made her way down Chris's body

827
00:46:44.880 --> 00:46:49.599
documenting all of the wounds, she located another gunshot wound,

828
00:46:50.280 --> 00:46:52.800
and this one was on Chris's right side, and it

829
00:46:52.880 --> 00:46:56.760
was right up where the neck and the shoulder meet.

830
00:46:57.119 --> 00:46:59.440
And based on the location and the trajectory of this

831
00:46:59.480 --> 00:47:02.519
bullet hole, it would not have killed him immediately. It

832
00:47:02.599 --> 00:47:06.280
probably actually was survivable, but because of all of the

833
00:47:06.320 --> 00:47:08.960
nerve endings where it went through, it would have immediately

834
00:47:09.000 --> 00:47:14.400
made his right arm unusable, like it would have gone dead. So,

835
00:47:14.559 --> 00:47:17.599
continuing down his body as some more she found a

836
00:47:17.639 --> 00:47:21.199
third gunshot wound. Now this one was in the lower

837
00:47:21.280 --> 00:47:25.719
left flank area of the back, and based on the

838
00:47:25.760 --> 00:47:31.800
trajectory of that bullet, his spinal cord was severed and

839
00:47:31.840 --> 00:47:35.719
so that shot would have immediately paralyzed him from the

840
00:47:35.760 --> 00:47:40.360
waist down. But there was something even more disturbing about

841
00:47:40.400 --> 00:47:43.679
that bullet wound. And it had to be. It was

842
00:47:43.719 --> 00:47:47.440
based on the trajectory of the wound. Chris would have

843
00:47:47.599 --> 00:47:51.719
had to have been bent over like at the waist

844
00:47:53.199 --> 00:47:58.320
to be shot in the direction and trajectory that bullet traveled.

845
00:47:58.519 --> 00:48:00.800
So it wasn't like he was standing in shit. It

846
00:48:00.800 --> 00:48:03.119
would have been like he was on his knees bent

847
00:48:03.320 --> 00:48:08.320
forward whenever he was shot. So she documents all of

848
00:48:08.320 --> 00:48:13.960
this very strange. But now even oddly more, there were

849
00:48:14.079 --> 00:48:19.519
remnants of his boxers and his undershirt and his dress shirt,

850
00:48:20.079 --> 00:48:24.440
but no remnants of his pants. And it wasn't like

851
00:48:24.480 --> 00:48:26.480
the fire had burned the pants off completely or anything.

852
00:48:26.519 --> 00:48:28.559
I mean, the boxers and stuff were still there. So

853
00:48:28.599 --> 00:48:30.880
the medical examiner came to the conclusion that he did

854
00:48:30.920 --> 00:48:34.559
not have pants on when he met his final resting place.

855
00:48:35.800 --> 00:48:40.920
But when the doctor rolled him over to review his backside,

856
00:48:41.000 --> 00:48:44.639
she found that his buttocks and portions of his back

857
00:48:44.719 --> 00:48:47.760
had been spared from the fire and had not burned

858
00:48:47.800 --> 00:48:51.719
because it was resting on the ground. And that said,

859
00:48:53.559 --> 00:48:58.280
she continued to do her examination, and she noticed that

860
00:48:58.400 --> 00:49:06.159
his rectal area had been through a great deal of trauma. Primarily,

861
00:49:06.239 --> 00:49:10.800
she noted that there was lots of swelling bruising and

862
00:49:10.920 --> 00:49:17.559
tearing alongside with bleeding of Chris's rectal area, and this

863
00:49:17.760 --> 00:49:22.159
was nothing that a fire would have ever caused. These

864
00:49:22.199 --> 00:49:27.159
wounds were indicative of the fact that Chris had been

865
00:49:27.239 --> 00:49:34.119
anally raped before he was set on fire. She could

866
00:49:34.119 --> 00:49:38.559
also tell that these injuries to his rectum would have

867
00:49:39.239 --> 00:49:45.400
happened while he was still alive based on I know

868
00:49:45.440 --> 00:49:47.159
You're gonna wonder, well, how could she know that? Well,

869
00:49:47.199 --> 00:49:49.920
it was based on the body's changes and responses, and

870
00:49:49.960 --> 00:49:52.280
without going too deep, basically, you know you have blood

871
00:49:52.320 --> 00:49:54.559
cell response to any type of trauma that happens to

872
00:49:54.599 --> 00:49:57.119
your body. And because of the type of blood cells,

873
00:49:57.119 --> 00:49:59.360
red and white blood cells, and how the bodies swoll

874
00:49:59.719 --> 00:50:02.039
and the reactions and all that in his rectal area,

875
00:50:02.639 --> 00:50:04.360
she knew for a fact that he had to have

876
00:50:04.400 --> 00:50:07.679
been alive for at least a few hours after his

877
00:50:07.840 --> 00:50:12.000
rape before he was set on fire. And I don't

878
00:50:12.039 --> 00:50:16.119
think I have to put into words right now what

879
00:50:16.280 --> 00:50:21.280
that meant for him in terms of everything he experienced

880
00:50:21.320 --> 00:50:26.679
before his ultimate demise. She also noted that when she

881
00:50:26.840 --> 00:50:29.679
pulled back the scalp that he had extreme bruising on

882
00:50:29.760 --> 00:50:33.639
his forehead, so he had to have been alive, and

883
00:50:33.719 --> 00:50:37.159
she deduced that he must have fallen forward and hit

884
00:50:37.199 --> 00:50:40.639
his head, slammed his head straight on the ground before

885
00:50:41.079 --> 00:50:46.280
he was wrapped into that comforter and accelerant had been used,

886
00:50:46.400 --> 00:50:50.760
poured all over him, and set on fire. The three

887
00:50:50.880 --> 00:50:55.000
gunshot wounds she believed to be that of a twenty

888
00:50:55.000 --> 00:51:01.159
two caliber. She took rectal and oral swab during the autopsy,

889
00:51:01.639 --> 00:51:04.800
but those results had not come back yet. Remember it's

890
00:51:04.800 --> 00:51:08.360
still Monday and we're pending to see if they could

891
00:51:08.360 --> 00:51:12.360
get any DNA from that. So going back to the apartment,

892
00:51:13.360 --> 00:51:17.599
this information, obviously not in that depth, is what was

893
00:51:17.639 --> 00:51:21.719
being relayed to Josh. Chris had been found, but it

894
00:51:21.760 --> 00:51:25.199
was in no way that anyone had hoped he was dead.

895
00:51:26.559 --> 00:51:31.360
He also had been set on fire. So everyone in

896
00:51:31.400 --> 00:51:34.599
the apartment starts screaming. They're crying, Oh my god, what

897
00:51:34.599 --> 00:51:37.360
what happened? Where is he? Do we know anything? But

898
00:51:37.639 --> 00:51:41.599
those questions would be left to be answered in the future.

899
00:51:41.840 --> 00:51:45.440
Right now, all they knew was he was dead. They

900
00:51:45.519 --> 00:51:48.280
did know that it would have to take dental records

901
00:51:48.280 --> 00:51:51.480
to one hundred percent identify him, but that would be

902
00:51:51.559 --> 00:51:57.119
eventually confirmed through the dental records. When that information was released,

903
00:51:58.360 --> 00:52:03.320
and those words passed over the ears of Shannon Christian's daddy.

904
00:52:04.559 --> 00:52:08.920
He immediately jumped up. He threw open the door to

905
00:52:08.920 --> 00:52:12.280
the apartment, and he stormed out the door. And this

906
00:52:12.480 --> 00:52:15.239
was not a daddy that was falling apart. This was

907
00:52:15.280 --> 00:52:18.800
not a daddy that just wanted to leave. This was

908
00:52:18.800 --> 00:52:22.639
the action of a daddy who was now on a mission,

909
00:52:22.960 --> 00:52:27.519
a mission with a fucking purpose. Hear my words because

910
00:52:27.519 --> 00:52:29.400
everyone started yelling what do you do and where are

911
00:52:29.440 --> 00:52:32.519
you going? What's happening? And he yelled out, without even

912
00:52:32.599 --> 00:52:35.719
turning around, one foot in front of the other, I

913
00:52:35.719 --> 00:52:41.039
am going to find my child, and he meant it.

914
00:52:41.920 --> 00:52:45.440
He got in his vehicle. This daddy was on a mission,

915
00:52:45.639 --> 00:52:48.239
one that no daddy wants. But he did not have

916
00:52:48.320 --> 00:52:51.480
to hear anything else. He didn't care if he had

917
00:52:51.519 --> 00:52:55.079
to storm the gates of hell with only a glass

918
00:52:55.119 --> 00:52:58.199
of ice water for protection. He was going to go

919
00:52:58.280 --> 00:53:01.280
do whatever he had to do, go wherever he had

920
00:53:01.320 --> 00:53:04.480
to go. But he was going to find his baby girl.

921
00:53:05.360 --> 00:53:08.639
And he was starting back in that very area where

922
00:53:08.679 --> 00:53:12.079
they had found her car. So everyone just tears off

923
00:53:12.119 --> 00:53:14.840
running after him. They jump into the cars. Wherever there

924
00:53:14.920 --> 00:53:17.599
is a seat available, and that vehicle tore out of

925
00:53:17.639 --> 00:53:20.639
that parking lot with people on a mission. It was

926
00:53:20.760 --> 00:53:24.159
freezing that day, by the way. It made it very

927
00:53:24.199 --> 00:53:27.199
difficult and uncomfortable to be out for extended periods of

928
00:53:27.239 --> 00:53:29.679
time in the wind chill. But they all got out

929
00:53:29.719 --> 00:53:34.039
of the cars near that Cherry Street stop sign and

930
00:53:34.079 --> 00:53:39.039
they started searching. They walked up and down the railroad tracks.

931
00:53:39.159 --> 00:53:43.000
They checked inside abandoned houses. They were looking in buildings

932
00:53:43.079 --> 00:53:47.920
anywhere where their precious Shannon may still behold up and

933
00:53:47.960 --> 00:53:50.199
may be in need of rescue. They were going to

934
00:53:50.280 --> 00:53:54.199
find him everything be damned. Her daddy was going to

935
00:53:54.280 --> 00:53:58.599
find her. But as he's on this mission, this search

936
00:53:58.679 --> 00:54:02.000
and destroy, do whatever he had to do. Over time,

937
00:54:02.039 --> 00:54:05.920
more people arrived, and more people arrived. The police came

938
00:54:07.039 --> 00:54:09.079
and they had to talk to her daddy and they said, look,

939
00:54:10.159 --> 00:54:13.880
we understand the distress that you are under right now.

940
00:54:13.920 --> 00:54:17.719
We get it. We totally understand this, but there is

941
00:54:17.800 --> 00:54:21.599
too much commotion and there is too much disturbance in

942
00:54:21.639 --> 00:54:25.519
this area, and you have got to trust us. We understand,

943
00:54:26.000 --> 00:54:29.320
we understand that you want to find her now, but

944
00:54:29.440 --> 00:54:31.400
you've got to let us do this, and you have

945
00:54:31.480 --> 00:54:34.440
to let us do it methodically, and let us investigate

946
00:54:34.519 --> 00:54:38.920
under a controlled and tactical manner. You have to please.

947
00:54:40.599 --> 00:54:46.719
And while it took everything within him to take those

948
00:54:46.760 --> 00:54:52.039
words and do what they were saying, he understood what

949
00:54:52.079 --> 00:54:56.599
they were saying. And by that evening they all got

950
00:54:56.639 --> 00:54:59.840
back in their cars and they returned back home again,

951
00:55:00.880 --> 00:55:06.760
just waiting for word of Shannon has Can anybody find her?

952
00:55:07.840 --> 00:55:11.679
Time is of the essence? Obviously Chris is dead? Where's

953
00:55:11.679 --> 00:55:16.000
my baby? So the police were out there, y'all working

954
00:55:16.119 --> 00:55:19.760
hard on this case, so so very diligent, But everything

955
00:55:20.079 --> 00:55:22.119
that they knew and that they were learning could not

956
00:55:22.280 --> 00:55:25.039
be revealed to the family at this time for obvious reasons.

957
00:55:25.039 --> 00:55:28.559
It's an open investigation. But the search was on, you

958
00:55:28.599 --> 00:55:31.559
can trust they knew Shannon needed to be found, it

959
00:55:31.639 --> 00:55:34.159
needed to be sooner than later. So they too were

960
00:55:34.239 --> 00:55:38.440
checking abandoned buildings, wooded areas, and even speaking with neighbors

961
00:55:38.840 --> 00:55:42.559
where Shannon's car was found. Now, when the mobile crime

962
00:55:42.599 --> 00:55:47.400
scene unit had been processing the vehicle Shannon's car when

963
00:55:47.440 --> 00:55:50.480
they were photographing, not only did they photograph those things

964
00:55:50.480 --> 00:55:52.800
that the family had said was out of place, but

965
00:55:52.840 --> 00:55:55.400
they also found when they got deeper into the car

966
00:55:56.000 --> 00:56:03.800
some crushed Newport cigarettes. Shannon didn't smoke, certainly didn't smoke Newports,

967
00:56:04.280 --> 00:56:06.760
so this would be a good clue as to the

968
00:56:06.800 --> 00:56:10.119
fact that Shannon likely did not drive this vehicle to

969
00:56:10.199 --> 00:56:14.239
this location. They noted that above her visor, the family

970
00:56:14.280 --> 00:56:15.760
and friends said there should be a bunch of pictures

971
00:56:15.800 --> 00:56:17.599
there where she had all of her buddies in her picture.

972
00:56:17.679 --> 00:56:21.719
Those were gone. Shannon had an iPod, remember we're back

973
00:56:21.719 --> 00:56:24.119
in two thousand and seven. She had an iPod that

974
00:56:24.199 --> 00:56:25.960
she was very proud of. Her parents had given it

975
00:56:25.960 --> 00:56:27.840
to her for Christmas and it was even inscribed on

976
00:56:27.880 --> 00:56:30.599
the back with her name, love Mom and Dad. That too,

977
00:56:30.719 --> 00:56:36.119
was missing from that vehicle. So police had canvassed the area.

978
00:56:36.159 --> 00:56:38.760
They were knocking on doors and they were asking had

979
00:56:38.800 --> 00:56:43.119
anyone seen when that suv may have arrived. One neighbor

980
00:56:43.280 --> 00:56:47.840
had been awake in the midnightish hours, and it turns

981
00:56:47.840 --> 00:56:51.360
out that she did not know exactly the time, but

982
00:56:51.440 --> 00:56:55.320
she said she was outside smoking around midnight and that

983
00:56:55.519 --> 00:57:00.519
suv was not there at the midnight hour, So that

984
00:57:00.840 --> 00:57:03.719
in and of itself was giving the police now a

985
00:57:03.760 --> 00:57:08.239
more articulated timeline to work between. We know when Shannon

986
00:57:08.360 --> 00:57:10.599
was seen last and we know that that vehicle was

987
00:57:10.679 --> 00:57:15.000
not here at midnight, So this flexible timeframe started to

988
00:57:15.119 --> 00:57:22.400
kind of erupt. Now, while Chris's body discovery was proof

989
00:57:22.480 --> 00:57:25.719
that someone had tried to cover up his murder, there

990
00:57:25.800 --> 00:57:27.519
was still a ton of work here to be done.

991
00:57:28.000 --> 00:57:31.440
There were still people to speak to. There was still

992
00:57:31.480 --> 00:57:33.440
more houses on the street that the police needed to

993
00:57:33.480 --> 00:57:36.599
try to talk to the people that lived there. Who

994
00:57:37.239 --> 00:57:42.559
did this, why did they do it? And where was Shannon?

995
00:57:44.119 --> 00:57:47.119
When I finished this story in part two, which I

996
00:57:47.159 --> 00:57:51.960
will this is going to unravel into something so unhinged

997
00:57:52.320 --> 00:57:55.559
that you could never guess this outcome, and this case

998
00:57:55.599 --> 00:58:00.159
will become far bigger and far darker than anyone from

999
00:58:00.199 --> 00:58:03.800
the state of Kentucky all the way to Knoxville could

1000
00:58:03.800 --> 00:58:06.159
ever imagine