Crimes That Shocked The World - The Most Chilling True-Life Stories From the Last 40 Years. Danny Collins
ringleader and the chief protagonist in the multiple rape and murder of Channon, irrefutable DNA evidence pointed to Davidson’s fingerprints and semen as proof that he took an active part in her rape and death.
The details of the crime, together with the horrific injuries inflicted on the couple before death, drove the press into a feeding frenzy. The case had all the hallmarks of racial ferment. The murdered couple were white and middle class while their attackers and killers were known black criminals. As sensationalised press reports recorded the agonies of the victims, Tennessee reeled in shock. Gradually the full horror of the young lovers’ deaths was revealed under questioning as each suspect fought to lay the blame on each other. Seeking immunity from the public prosecutor, Vanessa Coleman told investigators that she was present when Davidson led Channon blindfolded with her hands tied behind her, into the room and snapped her neck from behind. He then wrapped the body in garbage bags and stuffed it into the bin, making a remark about ‘taking out the trash’. She also alleged that George Thomas had told her he ‘felt bad’ about the death of Chris Newsom, whom he had raped and mutilated along with Cobbins before the latter shot him to death after marching him to the railway tracks opposite the house. Thomas allegedly then poured gasoline over the corpse and set it ablaze.
The story finally put together by police was that after hijacking Channon Christian’s Toyota SUV from Washington Heights at gunpoint, the attackers had bound the couple in the back seat and taken them to Davidson’s residence in Chipman Street, where Channon was forced to watch as the men repeatedly raped Newsom – court records refer to 20 counts of rape committed on the couple – then hacked off his penis, shot him multiple times and dragged his corpse along to the nearby railway track between Cherry Street and Ninth Avenue, where they set it on fire.
With Newson out of the way, the perpetrators next focused their depraved sadism on the terrified Channon. While not clear whether the 21-year-old student was killed within hours or kept alive until the following day, it was evident that she suffered agonies as she was gang-raped numerous times, beaten almost to the point of death, had a breast cut from her conscious body, and urinated upon. At some time one of the gang, possibly Vanessa Coleman, raped her both vaginally and anally with a broken chair leg.
The sheer depravity of the attacks is difficult to comprehend. Why, with a woman victim in their power, did the men resort to the repeated anal rape of their male victim? The answer may lie in that all the men arrested had served prison sentences where male rape is common – Cobbins had finished serving a six-year sentence only five months before – and may have developed a taste for that particular depravity. Some psychologists interviewed for this book believed it possible that Newsom may have angered his attackers or provoked them to the point where they showed their contempt and dominance of a ‘little white boy’ by raping him in front of his girlfriend. Whatever the reasons, Christopher Newsom’s pain and torment were over, and now the gang turned its evil on the helpless Channon.
Investigators still remain unclear whether Channon Christian was held and tortured for two days following the murder of Christopher Newsom or whether she died the next day. Certainly, when her corpse was discovered it was apparent that raw bleach had been poured down her throat and used to scrub her mutilated body. This, forensic pathologists decided, could have taken place post mortem and was done to destroy DNA evidence. There is no doubt, however, that Channon Christian met her death by suffocation after being bound inside several plastic garbage bags and stuffed into the large garbage bin inside the house, where her body was discovered by police. A policeman remarked: ‘She died with her eyes open.’ If Coleman’s account is to be believed, Channon may have merely fainted when Davidson attempted to break her neck. She recalls Davidson asking her if the girl was dead, to which she claims to have retorted, ‘Look yourself, Bro, I ’ain’t no nurse.’
With the sensational press coverage, the case had now become a cause célèbre for black activists and white supremacists alike. In May 2007, 30 white supremacists demonstrated in downtown Knoxville in protest at the murders and questions were asked in the right wing press regarding the absence of comments on the case by the Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, both well known for their outspoken deliveries on the issues of race. Perhaps they felt there was no infringement of black civil rights involved, but their reluctance to speak to the press about the murders was noted.
All those arrested were charged with the murders of Hugh Christopher Newsom Jr and Channon Christian, and with other charges relative to the crime. Davidson, Cobbins, and Thomas were all indicted by a Grand Jury on a total of 46 counts each: these were 16 counts of felony murder, two counts of premeditated murder, two counts of especially aggravated robbery, four counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, 20 counts of aggravated rape, and two counts of theft. Eric DeWayne ‘E’ Boyd was not indicted for murder and faced only federal charges as an accessory after the fact. He was eventually convicted in federal court of being an accessory to the carjacking and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. The prosecution reserved the right to bring him to trial on capital murder charges following evidence gathered in the trials of Cobbins, Davidson, and Coleman. Pre-trial proceedings were scheduled for July 2009.
It should be clarified that in each indictment the large number of counts of rape were not included to reflect the number of rapes that actually occurred, but to provide a range of options for the prosecutors, although without doubt the victims were both sexually abused a number of times before their murders.
On 25 August 2009, Letalvis ‘Rome’ Cobbins (24) was found guilty of multiple counts of first degree and felony murder in the death of Channon Christian but opted for lesser charges of facilitating murder in the killing of Newsom. He was also convicted of rape, kidnapping, and robbery, charges that carry the weight of 15 to 25 years’ imprisonment. Cobbins was found guilty on 33 of the 38 counts against him but the jury baulked at calling for his death and sentenced him to life imprisonment without parole. He narrowly escaped paying the ultimate price for his crimes. District Attorney Randy Nichols had announced that the state would be seeking the death penalty for Cobbins, Davidson and Coleman, if convicted.
Meanwhile, the defence attorneys of Lemaricus Devall ‘Slim’ Davidson pleaded that publicity against the accused would require a change of venue in order to ensure a fair trial. The motion was subsequently denied by the presiding judge as premature, although it was clear that Davidson’s eventual conviction following the denied request for a change of venue would lead, in the case of a guilty verdict, to the filing of an appeal on the grounds of jury prejudice.
That prejudice, if it had existed, wouldn’t have been enough for the families of the victims. Gary Christian, father of Channon, had to be physically restrained when Cobbins told the court that Channon had offered him oral sex in return for his help in escaping. Cobbins’s extraordinary statement was made when, against his attorneys’ advice, he took the stand to testify on his own behalf. Before Cobbins began his testimony, Judge Baumgartner dismissed a motion by his two reluctant court-appointed defence attorneys, Kim Parton and Scott Green, to withdraw from the case citing client/counsel differences.
Cobbins’s testimony was a blatant effort to place the blame for the crime on his fellow conspirators, referred to in court as the ‘Kentucky Crowd’, while making himself appear as a man struggling with a moral dilemma during the assaults on Newsom and Christian, unable to intervene for fear of his life. He told the court that he, his girlfriend Vanessa Coleman, and Thomas had come from Kentucky to spend the New Year 2007 with his brother Davidson, who he hadn’t seen for years due to regular spells of imprisonment. Davidson had been delighted to see him and suggested they go together to Washington Ridge Apartments to meet a girlfriend of Davidson. According to Cobbins, Eric Boyd – who had already been found guilty and sentenced as an accessory in the case, accompanied them.
The trio smoked marijuana on the way to the apartments and there spotted Newsom and Christian hugging and kissing in a Toyota SUV. Davidson and Boyd jumped out and carjacked them at pistol point. At this point Cobbins insisted that he wanted nothing to do with the carjacking but Davidson insisted he follow them back to Davidson’s house on Chipman Street. He told the court that all four suspects were at the house when he, Davidson, and Boyd arrived with Newsom and Christian and that he had told Coleman and Thomas that the three of them should leave because of what was going on, but,