Channon Christian and Chris Newsom were an attractive young White couple in their early 20s. Their lives were just getting started and photos show a happy, loving couple enjoying their young lives. Chris was former Baseball player for his local Knoxville High School team and had since become a carpenter. Channon had moved to Tennessee 10 years previously from Louisiana with her family and was studying Sociology at the local University of Tennessee. She enjoyed playing Golf in her spare time.[7]

On the Saturday night of 6th Jan 2007, they had planned to go for a romantic meal in a restaurant and then on to a friend’s party. Channon had been getting ready at a friends house, where Chris came to meet her around 8pm. They then walked down to the Washington Pike apartment complex parking lot to Channon’s car. Before they got in the car they stood and kissed. Lost in the moment they didn’t notice the group of armed Black men suddenly surrounding them. Pointing guns at them the three car-jackers blindfolded and forced them onto the back seat of the vehicle, tying their hands behind them. They drove to 2316 Chipman Street, Knoxville, a house of one of the attackers, Lemaricus “Slim” Davidson, who was the ring-leader of the group.

Here both were raped. Christopher was violently sodomized with an object in an extremely brutal manner. The court Medical Examiner later said 

“This is not just a rape… This is the blunt trauma where an object comes in contact and severely damages the tissue. The depth of the injury was so grave there was no way that just the regular rape could inflict this.”[3]

After this trauma he was raped by at least one of the attackers. When they were done with him, the attackers then blind-folded Newsom with a bandana, gagged him with a sock and forced him down a railroad track barefoot. A dog lead found discarded near the scene led investigators to believe it had been used to drag him. They then bound his hands and ankles before shooting him in the neck and the back. He was still alive after these injuries so the attackers held the gun to the side of his head and fired, severing his brain stem. He died instantly, around 1:45 a.m. Sunday 7th Jan. They then covered his body in Gasoline, set it on fire and left.

Whilst this had been happening, Vanessa Coleman, girlfriend of one of the gang, Letalvis D. Cobbins, half-brother of ringleader Davidson had stood guard over Channon Christian, who had been kept in one of the bedrooms.

When the killers returned they subjected her to hours of beating and sexual torture. As well as being raped she was also savaged, with a blunt object possibly a broken chair leg. Christian sustained injuries to her head, vagina, anus and mouth due to the violent rape and sexual assaults. She was punched in the head and kicked repeatedly in the groin, causing her to suffer extensive haemorrhaging on both sides of her head and in the groin area. She was covered in bruises and carpet burns sustained during the torture. During the later Medical Examiner testimony a man in the courtroom fainted, so horrific was the description of the young woman’s abuse.

After they had finished their sick, sadistic games with her, they scrubbed her bleeding body with bleach including her battered genital area. They also poured the poisonous cleaning solution down her throat to remove traces of their DNA.

Ring-leader Davidson later confessed that during the torture she had pleaded with them saying she “didn’t want to die”. However, they ignored her pleas. They tied her wrists and ankles together so she was in a fetal position and, wearing only a camisole vest and a sweatshirt, her face was covered with a small white bag and her entire body was put inside 5 bin bags. She was then thrown away, like some unwanted trash, and put in a large waste bin and covered with sheets, where, for over a period of many hours she slowly suffocated to death between the afternoon of the 7th, or maybe the afternoon of the 8th according to medical reports. Channon Christian died slowly and horrifically by asphyxia, with her eyes open.

The beautiful couple had done nothing to deserve the torture and callous execution. They had been absolutely loved by their family and friends many who were absolutely devastated by their murders. The girl’s mother Deena said to journalists years later:

‘I haven’t slept for five-and-a-half years. There’s not a second of a day that goes by that we still don’t think about what they did to our daughter.’

Her father was also completely devastated and tormented by what had taken place. Lives lost and ruined – for some sick Black gang to have some sadistic sexual kicks at a White couple’s expense.

Newsom’s body was discovered near a set of nearby railroad tracks on January 7 at 12:20 pm by a Norfolk Southern Railroad employee. The investigation discovered he had Semen inside his body but the DNA had been destroyed in the fire. The upper part of his body was so charred, he was almost unrecognizable. His bare and muddy feet indicated he had walked barefoot to the area where he was killed.

When police went to 2316 Chipman Street on Tuesday, January 9, they found the house unoccupied and Christian’s body in a trash can in the kitchen.

The gang was then tracked down easily by police. Despite their effort to burn and bleach DNA traces they left a wealth of evidence. Davidson’s Handprints were found on the garbage bags used to wrap Miss Christian’s body and his sperm was found in Christian’s vagina and anus. Cobbins’ sperm was found in her mouth. Inside the house were several items belonging to the couple such as Christian’s purse, clothing she had in her vehicle, Christian’s shoes, camera, photographs (which were ripped and burned), and iPod and Newsom’s baseball caps and driver’s license. Several of the victims’ belongings had Davidson’s prints. The items from Christian’s SUV were shoved into trash bags. In addition to the sperm found on Christian’s body, Davidson’s sperm was found on Christian’s jeans while Cobbins’ sperm was found on her camisole, sweater, and jeans. Shell casings found at Davidson’s house matched the bullets used to kill Newsom.

When police found ring-leader Davidson hiding in a nearby house he was wearing the shoes stolen off victim Christopher Newsom. After the others were arrested on the 11th Jan a journal with hand writing that matched Vanessa Coleman’s was discovered. An entry from the 9th Jan read

“Last night was one of a kind. We stayed w/a crackhead that is cool as hell. It snowed a lil bit but it’s already melted. Let’s talk about adventures! I had one HELL OF AN ADVENTURE since I’ve been in the big T.N. [I]t’s a crazy world these days! But I love the fun adventures [and] lessons that I’ve learned. It[‘]s going to be a long interesting year!”

The diary entry suggests a psychopathic disregard and complete lack of empathy for the distress and suffering caused to the White victims. It is hard not to draw the conclusion that the group were motivated by a kind of instinctual blood lust to utterly dominate members of a despised other race.

Ringleader Lemaricus Devall Davidson, was indicted on 16 counts of felony murder from the rape, robbery, kidnapping, and theft of Christian and Newsom, 2 counts of premeditated murder, 2 counts of especially aggravated robbery, 4 counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, 20 counts of aggravated rape, and 2 counts of theft. He was also indicted for a second robbery committed at a Pizza Hut the day following the murders.

The other two rapists involved in the killings George Geovonni “Detroit” Thomas and Letalvis “Rome” Cobbins, had similar indictments and were given sentences of life without parole. Davidson’s prior convictions meaning he was sent to Death Row on October 30, 2009.

Eric Boyd and Vanessa Coleman were also jailed for their involvement in what has been labelled as “the most violent car-jacking in US history.”
Eighteen-year-old Vanessa was indicted on 12 counts of felony murder growing out of the rape, robbery, kidnapping, and theft of Christian and Newsom, 1 count of premeditated murder, 1 count of especially aggravated robbery 4 counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, 20 counts of aggravated rape, and 2 counts of theft.

She was convicted and sentenced to 53 years in prison on July 30, 2010.

Eric DeWayne “E” Boyd is serving 18 years in federal prison on his conviction as an accessory to the carjacking.

The family set up the Channon Gail Christian Foundation in memory of their daughter, taken from them so tragically. The charity can be supported via their Facebook page[8]. Knoxville have an annual Chris Newsom memorial Baseball Tournament in his memory.[9]