CRIME & COURTS

Time no cure for pain in torture slayings of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom

Jamie Satterfield
Jamie.Satterfield@knoxnews.com
  • A memorial for Channon Christian will be at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Highland West Memorial Park cemetery.
  • A memorial for Christopher Newsom is set for 3 p.m. Saturday at Woodhaven Memorial Gardens in Powell.

Inside the bedroom closet of this Halls home sits a laundry basket full of neatly folded clothes.

Miles away in West Knoxville, a college book bag rests on a bedroom floor.

Neither has been touched for a decade.

The parents of Christopher Newsom, 23, and Channon Christian, 21, can't bear to mess with the contents of their children's bedrooms, aside from a loving stroke of a trophy or a wistful rub of a comforter. It's all they have left.

Torture-murder victims Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom in an undated photo.

"His bedroom, we left it just the same as it was," father Hugh Newsom said.

"I still look at her room every day," mother Deena Christian said.

This weekend marks the 10-year anniversary of the heartrending and horrific slayings of the parents' children. The couple were on a date on the night of Jan. 6, 2007, when they were carjacked, kidnapped, bound, beaten, tortured, raped and slain. Lemaricus Davidson, then 25, his brother Letalvis Cobbins, then 24, Cobbins' friend George Thomas, then, 23, and Cobbins' girlfriend, Vanessa Coleman, then 18, were tried in the slayings. Davidson now is on death row. Cobbins and Thomas are serving life without parole. Coleman, acquitted in the slayings and convicted of lesser charges in the crimes against Channon Christian, was sentenced to 53 years.

Lemaricus Davidson was convicted of the January 2007 murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.

The Tennessee Supreme Court recently upheld Davidson's convictions and death sentence, but his date with death by lethal injection is years — and several appeals — away, if at all.

A decade since the daughter of Deena Christian and Gary Christian was found stuffed inside a trash can where she slowly suffocated and the son of Hugh Newsom and Mary Newsom was found shot execution style and burned, these families are doing what they felt forced to do from the time they learned their children were missing — shine a spotlight on their children so they don't go missing in all the drama and attention the suspects, the trials and a scandal involving a judge connected to the trials that followed the discovery of their bodies.

Christian-Newsom murders: Coverage over the years

It was a case like none other in recent times.

Chris Newsom and Channon Christian were the kind of kids their parents always hoped for — compassionate, hard working, smart, funny and beautiful. The pair had just started dating and, on Jan. 6, 2007, were in a parking lot of a safe apartment complex in a safe neighborhood in Northeast Knoxville when they were snatched by strangers who didn't even know their names.

Mary and Hugh Newsom wipe tears from their eyes as they listen to their daughter, Debi Wadley, read her victim impact statement May 12, 2010, during the trial of torture-slaying suspect Vanessa Coleman.
Gary Christian holds a photograph of his murdered daughter, Channon Christian, during the sentencing of Vanessa Coleman on Feb. 1, 2013, in Knox County Criminal Court.

The suspects were captured within days. Davidson, an ex-con, moved to Knoxville from prison to deal drugs. Cobbins, Thomas and Coleman lived in Kentucky but came to Davidson's Chipman Street house for the holidays.

A Kentucky deputy U.S. marshal released gruesome and inflammatory details of the crimes committed against the two, all of which proved to be false, and white supremacy groups latched on to those falsehoods to garner attention to the racial divide — the suspects were black; the victims, white. Protests and counter-protests followed.

George Thomas.

Security already was tight when the suspects were arrested. The racial heat ratcheted it up in dramatic fashion. The Knox County Sheriff's Office created security teams. Metal detectors and more security were posted at the courtroom door. Tables filled with electronics and mini-television news-stage sets ringed an entire floor of the City County Building, where all but one of the trials in the case were held. Television journalists reported live from outside. The trials were streamed live on the internet and people from all over the world watched, using social media to interact directly with reporters for even more details.

Hugh and wife Mary Newsom as well as Deena Christian and Gary Christian garnered legions of fans they never sought. Even now, the Newsoms said, people stop them to talk about their son's death. Deena Christian was gifted a bracelet recently by a girl who was just a baby when Channon, Deena's baby girl, was killed.

Letalvis Cobbins.

By 2010, Davidson was on death row. Cobbins and Thomas were serving life without parole. Coleman, convicted of lesser charges, was sentenced to 53 years. She already has been up for parole once. It was denied - for now. Eric Boyd, convicted in a federal trial of hiding Davidson out after the slayings, was behind bars for 18 years.

But with the ink still wet on the conviction papers, the Newsom and Christian families would learn the judge who presided over the state trials, former Knox County Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner, was an opiate addict who popped and snorted pills on breaks in the trials of their children's killers. He was arrested in January 2011, just weeks after the four-year anniversary of the murders.

Vanessa Coleman

Ultimately, little would change in the outcomes. Davidson and Cobbins were denied new trials. The Tennessee Supreme Court recently upheld Davidson's convictions and death sentence. Thomas and Coleman were retried. Thomas was convicted anew and sentenced again to die behind bars of natural causes. Coleman, who already had won acquittal on murder charges, swayed a new jury to acquit her of a few more charges. Her sentence was cut to 35 years. Baumgartner was disbarred and wound up serving six months in federal prison for a series of lies he told to protect his drug-supplying mistress.

And now, a decade later, these parents are left with empty bedrooms and dreams of what might have been.

Families have memories

"I was told I would never have children, but I was lucky to have two," Deena Christian said in a recent interview. "As tall and lean as Channon was, she was a little chunky monkey as a baby."

Channon Christian and her brother, Chase.

Channon Christian was born in April 1985 in Nacogdoches, Texas, where her parents lived with older brother Chase. The family later relocated to Knoxville when Channon Christian still was a young girl. They settled in West Knoxville and built a solid, middle class life. From the start, her mother said, Channon Christian lit up rooms with her toothy smile, fun-loving spirit and gentle heart.

"She just loved life," her mother said. "Her friends would call her with boyfriend issues. She loved children."

Channon Christian was less than a year from graduating the University of Tennessee with a major in sociology when she was slain. Mother and daughter were close. There was little Deena Christian didn't know about her daughter. They talked for hours about the things girls and their mothers talk about.

Channon Christian and her mother, Deena, in an undated photo.

"She was always specific," Deena Christian said with a laugh. "She had it all planned. She wanted four kids, and she wanted the first one to be a boy, a big brother like her big brother Chase."

Deena Christian doubts she and her daughter's daddy could have afforded the wedding she had planned, but "we'd find a way to do it," she said.

Now, they never will.

"Who doesn't look forward to shopping for a wedding dress?" Deena Christian said. "I'll never be the mother of the bride or a grandmother to her babies."

Christopher Newsom was born in September 1983 in a Knoxville hospital. His parents were older than usual for parenthood. They already had grown children and a comfortable life in Halls, built on a foundation of work and faith when their baby boy bounced into their arms — full of boyish energy, a sweet heart and artistic talent.

Christopher Newsom in a childhood photo.

"He loved sports," his mother said. "He was very talented. He liked doing things that were beautiful."

A talented baseball player who picked up a bat at age four, Christopher Newsom also used his hands to craft artwork and artistic wood creations. An injury sidelined his baseball career after he graduated Halls High School. He trained to be a motorcycle mechanic but eventually decided to become not just a carpenter, his parents said, but a craftsman.

Christopher Newsom in a childhood photo.

"He made his headboard," Hugh Newsom noted.

The Newsoms knew their son had a good heart, but they didn't know just how big it was until after he died. Scores of people told them stories of his kindnesses — taking a dateless homecoming queen to the dance, sitting down with a girl in the lunchroom who had been ostracized by others and even lulling a snarling pit bull at a job site.

"There were numerous stories people told us," Hugh Newsom said.

The two families' children met through mutual friends in 2006. They were in the beginning stages of courtship. Christopher Newsom brought Channon Christian to meet his parents not long before they were slain, but the two sets of parents had not yet met when the Newsoms got a phone call from the Christians on the morning of Jan 7, 2007. Channon Christian had not shown up for work. She never missed work. Christopher Newsom's parents hadn't expected him home yet. He was supposed to stay over with a friend after his date with Channon Christian. But when his mother called, he didn't answer.

The search, the aftermath

Deena Christian knew her daughter would not simply disappear or run away. The Newsoms knew the same about their son. But no one in law enforcement would go looking for them. They were, the parents were told, adults and, therefore, free to go missing. The parents were forced to become the lead investigators in the disappearance of their own children. While the Newsoms manned the phones — calls to friends, hospitals and such — the Christians learned their daughter's phone had last pinged a cell tower near Cherry Street in Northeast Knoxville.

Friends and family of both carried out a street-by-street search around the tower and finally found Channon Christian's Toyota SUV abandoned at an intersection near Davidson's rental home on Chipman Street. The vehicle's window stickers had been removed, the doors wiped down, the driver's seat pushed back and mud in the floorboard.

Finally, law enforcement made an appearance, towing the vehicle but turning down a request by the families for a door-to-door search. The next day, a Knoxville Police Department sergeant, an investigator and a chaplain arrived on the doorstep of the Newsoms' home. Their son's body had been found.

"I collapsed," Mary Newsom said, pointing to the spot in her living room where she did so.

The Christians would wait another day before their daughter's body was found. From that moment, these families were forced to grieve in public. Their children's bodies were now evidence in a judicial system these parents knew nothing about. They say they still feel bruised by that system, though they accept the outcome as the only justice they likely are to receive.

Eric Boyd was convicted as an accessory to the January 2007 torture slayings of Channon Christian and her boyfriend, Chris Newsom.

These days, the stabbing pain in their hearts has largely abated, replaced by a dull ache that flares anew anytime there is a development in the case or someone reaches out with heartfelt but awkward compassion. They're still convinced Boyd, implicated but never charged in the slayings, got away with murder. The Newsoms continue to push for prosecution, though their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

Mary Newsom still tears up when she sees a Cadbury chocolate Easter egg. It was her son's favorite. She and her husband still stop every time someone mentions his name.

"No matter where you go, people want to stop you and ask you questions about it," Mary Newsom said.

Her husband added, "We give them the time. We let them state what they need to state and thank them for it."

Deena Christian is a grandmother now. Her son Chase and his wife have two young children. As she peers into her daughter's room these days, she thinks of other children and their parents.

"Get involved in your kids' lives," she said. "We're not promised tomorrow. Love your kids. I was lucky enough to have 21 years with Channon. She was so loving. I want people to just be the same."

A memorial dedicated to Channon Christian and Chris Newsom stands at 2316 Chipman St. in Knoxville.

Memorials for Channon Christian, Christopher Newsom

  • A memorial for Channon Christian will be at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Highland West Memorial Park cemetery where she is buried.
  • A memorial for Christopher Newsom is set for 3 p.m. Saturday at Woodhaven Memorial Gardens in Powell.

See also:

AnalysisHorror of Christian/Newsom killings in focus: What happened on Chipman Street

TimelineKey events in Christian-Newsom case

StorifyRetrials in Channon Christian Christopher Newsom case

Timeline:

2008

April 9, 2008 Graphic details emerge in Christian-Newsom killings

April 14, 2008 Medical examiner begins graphic description of couple's injuries

2009

July 18, 2009 Transcript: Davidson says he told Christian he would 'make sure she got out'

Aug. 3, 2009 Documents relating to the Christian, Newsom murders in Knoxville

Aug. 24, 2009 Phone call's timing at issue in fatal carjacking case

Aug. 27, 2009 Life without parole: Jury rejects death penalty for Letalvis Cobbins

Oct. 29, 2009 Cobbins in protective custody at West TN prison after expressing safety concern

Oct. 30, 2009 Sentenced to death, Lemaricus Davidson arrives at Nashville prison

2010

May 6, 2010 Jurors hear Coleman's statements

July 30, 2010 Coleman gets 53 years in 2007 carjacking killings

2012

Feb. 12, 2012 Court of secrecy: How Richard Baumgartner, a drug-addicted judge, stayed on the bench

April 24, 2012 Judge declines to appoint counsel for Letalvis Cobbins in abuse claim

Nov. 18, 2012 Prosecutors say journal showed Vanessa Coleman not upset

Nov. 25, 2012 Channon Christian, Chris Newsom slaying spawn unending agony

2013

May 21, 2013 George Korda: Chipman Street: sometimes there just aren't enough rocks

May 29, 2013 Ex-Judge Richard Baumgartner reports to prison

2014

Aug. 15, 2014 Vanessa Coleman's parole hearing eligibility pushed to December

Dec. 10, 2014 Appellate court upholds Vanessa Coleman's convictions, sentence

2015

Feb. 10, 2015 Court upholds George Thomas conviction in Christian-Newsom case

2016

Jan. 11, 2016 Accomplice in 2007 torture-slayings seeks US Supreme Court review

Jan. 25, 2016 Tennessee Supreme Court to tackle warrant issue in torture-slaying case

Jan. 27, 2016 State Supreme Court weighs botched warrant in Christian-Newsom appeal

Jan. 27, 2016 Justices pondering ‘good faith exception’ with Christian-Newsom appeal as backdrop

July 8, 2016 Editorial: New carjacking law takes this crime seriously

Dec. 20, 2016 State high court upholds death sentence for Lemaricus Davidson