Les Jones

New information sheds light on Johnia Berry murder

Sunday, December 6th, 2009 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | 2 Comments |

Knoxville News-Sentinel - Questions remain in Johnia Berry’s death. This an important new source of information in the case and is worth reading in its entirety. Here’s a summary with comments.

The biggest revelation is Olson’s original statement to police. It matches what always seemed to me like the most likely scenario in that crime-plagued neighborhood. Someone walking up the back steps of the apartment complex, trying doors to find one that was open, then exploring the house for something to steal. That would fit with the stolen CDs found outside the back door by the kitchen, the murder weapon being a knife from Berry’s kitchen, and the blood trail going out the back door.

Olson, who had a history of arrests that stretched back to his teenage years, told authorities he lived in December 2004 with a friend, Noah Cox, at Warren House, a complex just down the road from Berry’s apartment at Brendon Park.

Olson said he and Cox spent the night before Berry’s death drinking stolen beer, smoking marijuana and breaking into cars. He said they got split up in the rain and that he went wandering along Brendon Park’s back porches, looking for an open apartment door and hoping to steal a pair of car keys.

Olson told a vague story of stumbling into an apartment by the light of his cell phone and accidentally waking someone up.

“It was so dark. … I was looking for some keys and then, and someone said, ‘Who are you’ or ‘What are you doing’ or something … then I heard like a yell and I just felt a pain,” he told investigators in a Sept. 23, 2007 interview. “I just freaked out. … I didn’t see a face or anything. … I got (the knife) away, and it didn’t seem like I stabbed anybody, it seemed like a fight or something, and then I just ran.”

Olson initially claimed he acted alone. Later he changed his story, claiming it was Cox who stabbed Berry. However, investigators found no forensic evidence of a second person in the apartment and Berry’s roommate Jason Amiyami saw only one intruder.

One mystery in the murder is how Olson got cut. Olson’s statement that he was stabbed first is interesting, because it would imply Johnia initially had the knife for self-defense. Because Olson is a suspect his statements don’t automatically get the benefit of the doubt, so it’s hard to say how much faith to put in his what he told the police. Note, for instance, the statement that there was a “fight or something.” In reality, according to her roommate Berry was stabbed “too many times to count” in an encounter that lasted some 30 seconds. (See the 2005 MetroPulse article for a contemporary account.)

The News-Sentinel article goes into detail about the Atlanta Braves ballcap found at the scene and its possible significance.

Despite the lack of forensic evidence, Allen said one thing in particular still troubles him - the Atlanta Braves baseball cap found on Berry’s bed. The hat belonged to a neighbor of Berry’s whose car was broken into that rainy night.

That neighbor, Brian McLemore, reported two caps stolen, along with a stereo and CDs. Investigators found them at the apartment - except for the other hat.

“The hats may have been taken to shield (from) the rain,” Allen wrote. “Two hats missing (but only one found) infers that two suspects were present, at least for the auto burglary, and then by implication during the homicide.”

Allen’s memo and interview transcripts show Olson and Cox became unusually concerned about who wore the hat that night.

The information above may clear up one minor mystery in the case. At least one of the stolen CDs had the letters “ML” written in marker. Everyone assumed those were initials, but McLemore may have used those letters to mark his CDs.

More information about Cox, the man Olson accused of killing Berry:

Like Olson, Cox had a history of theft arrests. Even prosecutors agreed he made a better match for the sketch and the roommate’s description than Olson.

“A chill went up my spine when I saw the resemblance,” Isaacs said. “I challenge anyone to look at the mug shots of Taylor Olson, Noah Cox and the composite sketch and draw their own conclusions.”

Aymami, the roommate and sole eyewitness, proved less decisive. He told authorities he couldn’t identify either man as the one who stabbed him.

Records show Cox’s name surfaced in the case through rumors long before Olson’s. KCSO officers questioned Cox 22 days after Berry’s death. He denied the crime and turned over a DNA sample that didn’t match. He showed no signs of a fight - no cuts, no bruises.

Olson Mugshot	Cox Mugshot	Police Sketch

Johnia Berry honored at new TBI crime lab

Thursday, July 30th, 2009 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | No Comments |

WBIR - Murder victim Johnia Berry honored at new TBI facility.

Law enforcement agencies throughout East Tennessee are celebrating the opening of a multi-million dollar facility that could help solve crimes faster. On Wednesday morning, TBI Director Mark Gwyn and Joan Berry helped cut the ribbon to the new TBI consolidated facility in Strawberry Plains.

Johnia Berry was killed in 2004. Since her murder, her parents Mike and Joan Berry have worked with law enforcement and lawmakers to improve the way crimes are solved in the state. After the ribbon cutting, TBI officials revealed the plaque that dedicates one of the many labs to the young woman killed in her Knoxville apartment.

“We dedicated our DNA serology section to Johnia Berry,” TBI Director Mark Gwyn said. “Through DNA, that crime was solved, so how fitting could it be to dedicate the DNA section to her.”

“Hopefully this is going to help lots of other families that they won’t have to lose their child the way we’ve lost Johnia,” Joan Berry said as she fought back tears.

Johnia Berry’s Family Endorses Randy Tyree for Sheriff

Monday, August 4th, 2008 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | No Comments |

WBIR - Johnia Berry’s family to endorse Tyree for sheriff:

The family of murder victim Johnia Berry has announced they will endorse Democratic candidate Randy Tyree for Knox County Sheriff. Citing what the family views as a politicized environment under former Sheriff Tim Hutchison continuing under Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones, the family made the announcement in a press release from Tyree’s campaign Monday.

Johnia Berry was stabbed to death in her apartment in December, 2004. Taylor Olson was arrested in 2007 for her death but hanged himself with a bedsheet in jail before he could be tried. Joan Berry and then-Sheriff Tim Hutchison had disagreements about whether outside resources like America’s Most Wanted would aid in the investigation.

During the investigation, Hutchison said he was confident the person responsible was still in the area and said he didn’t want to spread his investigators’ attention onto false leads.

I wasn’t a fan of Hutchison with regards to Johnia Berry’s case or some other issues. As to Jones (no relation) I have no opinion, and since I live in Blount County I don’t have a vote, either.

Noel Thomas Cox Walks on Plea Deal

Friday, April 18th, 2008 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | 1 Comment |

Knoxvile (TN) News-Sentinel - Man accused in killing gets deal in other case

The 24-year-old Cox, via defense attorney Brandt Davis, struck a plea deal in Knox County Criminal Court with Knox County Assistant District Attorney General Del Holley in which the convicted thief pleaded guilty to a half-dozen charges. The remaining counts against him were dropped.

Nearly all of the charges came about July 7, 2006, when Cox fled from Knox County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Patrick Lawson in a stolen Ford Expedition, Holley said.

Cox had been the target of accusations by defense attorney Gregory P. Isaacs that Cox, and not Taylor Lee Olson, Isaacs’ client, killed Johnia Berry, 21, in December 2004 in her West Knox County apartment. Olson, charged in the slaying, accused Cox of killing Berry after the two broke into her apartment.

Olson, however, hanged himself last month in the Knox County Jail, rendering his prosecution moot. He left behind letters in which he continued to blame Cox for the slaying.

DNA testing of crime-scene evidence has failed to provide any link to Cox, and Davis insists there is nothing to back up Olson’s claim. “Nothing that I know about the case would lead me to believe Noah Cox had anything to do with the (slaying),” Davis said.

The Taylor Lee Olson Autopsy Could be Interesting

Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | 3 Comments |

Taylor Lee Olson hung himself yesterday. He was the prime suspect in the Johnia Berry murder. His blood matched blood found in the apartment the night of the murder and his face matched a composite sketch made by Berry’s roommate, Jason Amiyami.

There was always a question of how Olson’s blood was spilled. The police never said. The knife was from the kitchen, and I had a theory that the killer’s hand slipped and sliced the palm side of his fingers. There’s another theory, but it’s based on hearsay from a drug addict who has since committed suicide:

Court records show that Isaacs’ theory of the crime grew out of a statement by Augustine Joseph Leon, 23, a confessed drug addict and friend of Olson and Cox.

Leon has told authorities that Cox admitted killing Berry in the botched burglary that Cox and Olson were carrying out at the Brendon Park apartment complex on Rhodora Road, where Berry lived with a roommate.

According to Leon’s statement, Olson broke into what he thought was an unoccupied apartment when Berry armed herself with a knife and wounded Olson.

Cox then ran to Olson’s aid and killed Berry as Olson, bleeding, ran from the apartment, according to Leon’s account.

It would be interesting to see if the autopsy mentions any scars on the hand or elsewhere. A stab wound would not prove Leon’s story true, but the absence of such a wound could prove it obviously false. Hard to say.

Accused Johnia Berry Murderer Taylor Lee Olson Hangs Himself

Monday, March 24th, 2008 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | No Comments |

I’ve been offline while this news broke today. Thanks to everyone who sent me links.

WVLT - Taylor Olson’s lawyer says letters identify other suspect in Berry death:

Johnia Berry’s accused killer takes his own life, leaving behind letters saying he did not commit the murder. Now there are new questions about the investigation and what may be next. Volunteer TV’s Rob Pratt has more.

Taylor Lee Olson’s attorney held a news conference this afternoon. He stopped short of saying who his client accused of murder in his dying letters, but Johnia’s mother says she’s satisfied that Olson was responsible.

Taylor Lee Olson last spoke to us when he was first taken into custody. “It was an accident.” But now, after his death, he is speaking again through letters he left behind.

Greg Isaacs, Olson’s attorney says, “he has identified an individual that he says is responsible for the death of Johnia Berry.” Isaacs would not tell us who Olson named in his letter.

Olson is the only one charged with the crime. He’s been jailed since September on first degree murder and aggravated robbery charges.

The Sheriff’s department says in a statement published on it’s website that he was held in a cell alone. Officers checked on him every hour. Before 1:00 a.m. they found him with a piece of sheet around his neck, hanging from a clothes hook in the corner of his cell.

Knoxnews.com - DA’s office says letters ID’ing alleged killer nothing new:

Court records show that Isaacs’ theory of the crime grew out of a statement by Augustine Joseph Leon, 23, a confessed drug addict and friend of Olson and Cox.

Leon has told authorities that Cox admitted killing Berry in the botched burglary that Cox and Olson were carrying out at the Brendon Park apartment complex on Rhodora Road, where Berry lived with a roommate.

According to Leon’s statement, Olson broke into what he thought was an unoccupied apartment when Berry armed herself with a knife and wounded Olson.

Cox then ran to Olson’s aid and killed Berry as Olson, bleeding, ran from the apartment, according to Leon’s account.

Note that Leon was not in the apartment the night of the murder, so everything he says is at best hearsay from Cox, and at worst completely invented by Leon. It seems like the blood stains (of which there were many) would tell whether Leon’s story is plausible. Police have not found Cox’s blood in the apartment. Olson was the one who went into the bedroom of Berry’s roommate, Jason Amiyami, who gave the police the composite sketch that matched Olson. In the absence of any physical evidence linking Cox to the crime scene I don’t believe his story.

I don’t know what to think about Olson’s suicide. Berry’s family wanted answers, and now I don’t think they’re going to get them.

Delay in Johnia Berry Murder Trial

Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | 2 Comments |

Knoxville News Sentinel - Judge grants trial delay in slaying of Johnia Berry:

The March 3 trial has been pushed back to July 28 at the request of the attorney for the defendant, Taylor Lee Olson.

Blood found at the crime scene was matched to Olson’s DNA. The article quotes statements of Olson and his former friend, Augustine Joseph Leon, who turned him in, concerning how Olson was wounded that night:

Olson was arrested last September in connection with a sealed presentment filed against him in the Berry slaying after authorities matched his DNA to a trail of blood from a bedroom in the woman’s apartment to the living room to the back door.

An Olson friend-turned-informant, Augustine Joseph Leon, contends Olson was cut after Berry confronted him with a knife in an effort to defend herself from a burglar.

Olson denies killing Berry and, instead, insists pal and fellow thief Noah Thomas Cox came to his aid and killed Berry after Olson ran from the apartment. Leon, also a pal of Cox, alleges Cox confessed to him. Cox, jailed on unrelated charges, has not been charged in the Berry slaying.

Authorities are keeping mum about whether Cox is being investigated as a suspect.

It’s hard to conclude anything very definite from those statements. Leon wasn’t in the apartment, so his statement is hearsay. Olson is an accused murderer with an incentive to lie. We may never know exactly what happened that night.

“Former girlfriend talks about man linked to Johnia Berry murder”

Friday, November 23rd, 2007 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | No Comments |

WATE - Former girlfriend talks about man linked to Johnia Berry murder:

She describes Cox as abusive with an appetite for both drugs and crime. His criminal history, filled with theft and assault, seems to support her characterization.

“He would choke me, push me, slap me,” she said. The woman told 6 News she tried to contact the sheriff’s office about Cox, but deputies didn’t seem interested in her story.

“They never took my name, even,” she said. “They never asked me my name, my telephone number, anything. They just said, ‘We’ve looked at him and his DNA doesn’t match. If you think of anything else call us back.’”

There’s a suggestion that the police didn’t follow up on the lead, but the big news there is that Cox’s DNA didn’t match the crime scene DNA. It’s still possible he was involved somehow, but assuming this person (whose name is not given) is telling the truth the DNA wasn’t Cox’s. For him to be directly involved there would have to have been two attackers that night. So far as I’ve even seen in the media there’s only evidence of one.attacker. If those facts are correct then I don’t believe Cox was in the apartment that night.

Mother of Third Inmate Says Cox Involved in Berry Murder

Friday, November 23rd, 2007 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | No Comments |

WBIR - Inmate’s mother says investigators uninterested in Berry murder connection:

Ruth Leon says her incarcerated son knows what happened the night Johnia Berry was murdered, but investigators were not interested in talking to him. Leon said her son Joseph talked with Berry murder suspect Taylor Olson about Johnia Berry.

Ruth Leon said she tried to call investigators to tell them her son had information about the murder. Ruth Leon said her son’s information puts Noah Cox at the scene of the crime. She also said Cox, Leon, and Olson are all friends.

But see this item for a suggestion that Cox’s DNA did not match. That evidence is, admittedly, unofficial and based on an anonymous source who spoke to the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

Johnia Berry’s Parents to Meet Prosecutors

Thursday, November 22nd, 2007 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | No Comments |

Tricities.com:

The parents of a college student who was stabbed to death three years ago are expected to meet with Knox County prosecutors this week to discuss recent developments in the case that may point to another killer.
A grand jury in September indicted Taylor Olson in the slaying of Johnia Berry and charged him with felony murder, first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and aggravated burglary.
But last week Berry’s family learned that Olson’s lawyer is planning to point the finger at a petty criminal and friend of Olson as the real killer.

Taylor Lee Olson’s Attorney Suggests Other Suspect, Challenges DNA Sample

Saturday, November 17th, 2007 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | No Comments |

Last month police arrested Taylor Lee Olson for the murder of Johnia Berry. Now Olson’s attorney, Greg Isaacs, is pointing the finger at another suspect, Noah Cox, who is already in jail on other charges.

Isaacs is also trying to suppress the DNA sample his client gave to police in the weeks prior to his arrest. I’ve been waiting for that to happen. Olson volunteered the sample, and I assumed Isaacs would challenge the means by which police obtained consent. From WBIR:

Isaacs also filed a motion Friday to suppress DNA evidence gathered from Olson, on the grounds that Olson should have had access to an attorney’s advice before consenting to give a DNA sample.

Johnia Berry Memorial Toy Drive

Saturday, October 27th, 2007 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | No Comments |

Via email from Remonda Swafford:

The holidays are right around the corner and we would like to encourage you to donate new, unwrapped toys for children ages infant to 14. In honor of Johnia Berry and her goal to devote her life to working with children, we would like to help provide toys to local needy children. All toys collected will be delivered to local Knoxville children organizations on December 6.

Download flyer with drop-off locations.

DNA and the Johnia Berry Case

Friday, September 28th, 2007 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | Comments Off |

Knoxville News-Sentinel - DNA testing so costly, it’s only done on crimes like Berry case:

The process of collecting and testing DNA evidence is expensive, so it can only be used in the most serious of criminal cases, such as the 2004 stabbing death of Johnia Berry, authorities say.

Authorities found DNA samples from at least three people at Berry’s apartment in West Knox County — Berry, her roommate and a third person.

Early this week, Taylor Lee Olson, 22, of Knoxville, was charged with murdering Berry, 21, during a burglary. Although officials have declined to say if Olson’s DNA matched that found at the scene, his arrest came weeks after the Knox County Sheriff’s Office obtained a DNA sample from him.

Elsewhere, it’s been noted that Berry’s investigation was the most expensive in Tennessee Bureau of Investigation history due to DNA testing.

On the subject of whether DNA or something else led to Taylor Lee Olson’s arrest:

Based on what authorities have said so far, Olson’s DNA wasn’t matched to any evidence through the use of a DNA database. Instead, detectives had already focused on Olson and voluntarily obtained a DNA sample from him when he was arrested on a misdemeanor probation violation charge in July.

The Johnia Berry Act of 2007 requires that people arrested in Tennessee for certain violent crimes submit a DNA sample. That sample will then be checked against a database of DNA samples from crimes. However, the new law doesn’t go into effect until January 1, 2008. Olson for whatever reason gave his DNA sample voluntarily.

During the Johnia Berry investigation it became clear that the state of Tennessee couldn’t keep up with the backlog of DNA testing needed. The Johnia Berry Act will increase testing needs even more, so the TBI is building a new DNA testing facility named for Berry in Strawberry Plains.

Details Emerge of Taylor Lee Olson

Thursday, September 27th, 2007 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | 5 Comments |

News-Sentinel - Details sketchy about man charged in Berry murder - Olson has a child who is less than a year old, but is estranged from the mother. I’ll go out on a limb here and say he’s an absent father.

Interview with Sketch Artist in Berry Murder

Thursday, September 27th, 2007 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | No Comments |

WVLT - Sketch Artist Talks About Photo

Roommate’s Description of Berry’s Killer Aided Arrest

Wednesday, September 26th, 2007 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | 7 Comments |

From Tricities.com - FROM SKETCH TO MUG: A comparison between composite sketch to actual mug shot of Johnia Berry’s accused killer

Lieutenant Debbie McCauley, investigator with the Bristol Tennessee Police Department, is not involved in the case, but also compared the sketch, “You got the hair that looks real similar… the chin and then the slanted eyes, the shape of the ears. That in my opinion, this sketch is really close to the person.”

The sketch was based on a description provided by Johnia’s roommate, Jason Aymami, who was also attacked in the middle of the night, but survived. Aymami saw his attacker by the light of the bedroom TV he fell asleep by.

The first time I met Kelly Burke, Johnia’s brother, to work on the Johniaberry.org blog I asked him what he thought of the sketch. He wasn’t sure. It was something, he thought, but it was hard to say how accurate the sketch was.

As the sketch got more attention, calls poured in. People reported seeing someone just like him, working with someone just like him, even seeing an almost identical picture in the Oak Ridge high school annual. Just a few days before Olson was arrested WVLT ran a story about a local bank manager who had reported a young employee who resembled the killer’s sketch.

The sketch also resembled a number of people arrested for violent crimes in Knoxville, including Douglas Everett Loveday, Brent Davis, and Zachary Michael Howell.

The person in the sketch was a fairly generic-looking young white male with short hair. In comments at JohniaBerry.org, some people claimed Aymami must be lying, because the sketch was an exact match to someone they know, and that person couldn’t have done it. Other commenters claimed Aymami lied to the police when he because the description was too generic.

Now we know that the sketch really was accurate and ultimately did help solve the case. We’ll know how much it helped once the trial begins. Jason Aymami, long derided and even implicated as an accomplice in Johnia Berry’s murder, deserves long-overdue apologies and credit.

Trial Date Set in Johnia Berry Murder

Wednesday, September 26th, 2007 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | 2 Comments |

WVLT - Trial Date Set for Johnia Berry Murder Suspect - Trial date is March 3, 2008. Olson was assigned a public defender, but Greg Isaacs is taking the case. Johnia’s biological father, John Tiller, comments on the arrest. I thought Tiller was a previous husband or something, but according to WVLT Johnia was put up for adoption when she was five, though they were in contact and maintained a relatioship up until the day she died.

Latest on Johnia Berry

Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | No Comments |

WVLT: Johnia Berry’s Parents React to Arrest in Daughter’s Murder Case

News-Sentinel: Suspect says Berry’s death ‘was accident’

From that piece:

Jones said there was no indication that Olson knew Berry or Aymami, and court records indicate that Berry was killed as Olson was trying to burglarize their apartment.

A burglary gone wrong was always the most likely theory to me. A car stereo was found on the back steps, and CDs that didn’t belong to Johnia or her roommate, Jason Aymami, were found just inside the patio door. The murder weapon was a knife from their kitchen.

Jason was also attacked, but survived. Some people have gone out of their way to implicate Jason in the murder (and even to threaten him with violence), and they owe him an apology.

Arrest in Johnia Berry Case - News Conference Shortly

Monday, September 24th, 2007 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | 4 Comments |

Rich Hailey just called from downtown. Word is the sheriff has made an arrest in the Johnia Berry murder. There will be a press conference any minute.

UPDATE: The News-Sentinel reports the arrest of 22-year-old Taylor Lee Lee Olson. His DNA matched blood from the crime scene. He also seems to have confessed, saying Johnia’s death was an accident.

Obviously this opens up the question of how or if Olson knew Berry, how he entered her West Knoxville apartment, and what events led to her murder. Maybe now we can get some answers.

More at WBIR.

It will be interesting to see how closely Olson matches the composite sketch. I don’t expect an exact match, of course. LATER: Olson’s mugshot here, with a Van Dyke moustache. Pretty close likeness. Lots of people wanted to pin the murder on Jason A., Johnia’s roommate. They claimed he gave police a phony description for the composite sketch. DNA evidence showed the killer to be a white male, just as Jason said. Now the killer matches Jason’s description.

More details late Monday. “[Sheriff] Jones said there was no indication that Olson knew either Berry or Aymami.”

Johnia Berry Would Have Been 24 Sunday

Tuesday, August 28th, 2007 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | 2 Comments |

A post from her brother, Kelly.

The third anniversary of her death is coming up in December. The Knoxville sheriff’s office has refused to ask for help from the TBI, and refused help from “America’s Most Wanted,” claiming that they have leads and suspects, yet they’ve failed to make a singe arrest.

Gov. Bredesen Signs Johnia Berry Bill

Wednesday, May 30th, 2007 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | No Comments |

From TriCities.com:

Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen signed the “Johnia Berry Bill” Wednesday. The legislation, named for the slain Tri-Cities native, will create a Tennessee DNA database.

“It’s a new way of doing a new thing that’s similar to some old things that we do,” Ron Street, Chief Deputy of Carter County, said.

The old way: commit a crime and police take your fingerprints. Along with your mug shot, they’ll send them to Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

The new way: commit certain violent crimes like aggravated assault, sexual battery…and statutory rape…and you’re DNA goes to the TBI lab, too.

Knox Sheriff Subpoenas List of Peninsula Patients in Connection with Berry Murder

Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | No Comments |

Knoxville News-Sentinel:

Knox County Sheriff’s Office investigators, probing the murder of Johnia Berry, are trying to get the names of men who were patients at Peninsula Hospital in a period of time leading up to her death.

But officials at the mental health facility, concerned with patient confidentiality issues, are resisting compliance with a subpoena for the records.

Thanks to Wolfpack and Michael Silence for the heads up.

Johnia Berry News/Christian and Newsom Murders

Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 | Johnia Berry, True Crime | Permalink | 8 Comments |

Knoxville News-Sentinel: Johnia Berry walk kicks off ‘07 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.

Metro Pulse: The House on Chipman Street - Has some information about the Johnia Berry case and interviews Remonda Swafford. I met Remonda at the Cokesbury Johnia Berry meeting a few months ago. She’s been an outspoken, effective voice for the crime problem in the West Knoxville neighborhood where Johnia was killed.

Beyond that, I found parts of that Metro Pulse article incredibly offensive. The reporter, Leslie Wylie, goes out of her way to minimize and conceal the horrific crime that was at the center of the story.

The opening sentence is “You don’t need another rehashing of the grisly details.” But perhaps you do, since she omits them. The defendants have been charged with the double carjacking, kidnapping, rape and murder of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. It’s believed Newsom was raped and killed early on, then his body burned. Christian was gang-raped for several days before being murdered. One of the defendants, Vanessa Coleman, who was in the house during that time has stated that while Christian was alive her mouth was rinsed out with cleaning chemicals, presumably to hide DNA evidence.

Wylie implies that interest in the case is largely due to race (Christian and Newsom were white, their accused murderers were black) and includes this quote without disapproval:

“It’s a tough question,” says Kelly Johnson, a local criminal defense attorney, “because the media is in a position where they have to report those things, and what they have is two young, white people allegedly killed by three African-American gentlemen and an African-American woman. Does the media take more interest in a case when there are white victims? I don’t know. Maybe.”

I’m not sure that people who have been charged with robbery, kidnapping, rape and murder need to be described as “gentleman” without protest from the reporter. Particularly when the fingerprints of one of the defendants, Lemaricus Davidson, were found on materials in the carjacked vehicle, according to news reports. That clue lead police to 2316 Chipman Street, where Christian’s burned body was found in a kitchen trash can.

Wylie goes out of her way to make the issue race, as opposed to sticking to the simple facts of the nightmarish crimes that occurred. Googling for information about the Christian-Newsom murder I did find racist sites that are making hay of the case, but do Wylie and her editors seriously believe that an average person wouldn’t be offended and frightened if the victims and accused were of the same race? You have a pair of innocent young UT students going about their lives and being carjacked, raped, murdered, and mutilated by a gang of drug-induced criminals. If that doesn’t offend someone then it seems to me that that person’s moral compass is broken beyond all repair.

The same article has counterevidence that interest in the Christian-Newsom murders is racially motivated. Johnia Berry was white. We know that her murderer was also white, based on the eyewitness account of her roommate who survived the attack, as well as the DNA obtained from the killer’s blood left at the crimes cene. Yet despite Berry’s murder being a white-on-white crime there has been tremendous interest in the case. Wylie would have done well to stick to the facts, as Ellen Mellarnee did for her incredible Metro Pulse feature about Berry’s murder.

Instead, Wylie and her editors hide the facts from the reader, assuming that either the reader is a racist or that someone will use the facts to racial advantage. I don’t have any use for a newspaper that keeps the facts from its readers for fear that some people are too stupid and racist to handle those facts.

- WVLT Special Coverage of Christian-Newsom Murders
- Wikipedia entry for Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom Murder

Knox Sheriff’s Dept. Paid Me a Visit this Morning

Monday, January 15th, 2007 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | 7 Comments |

Before I left for work this morning I got a knock on the door. Looking out there was a guy in dress shirt and pants with a radio and a manila folder. He said he was with the Knox County Sheriff’s department and showed me his ID. Name of Hall.

I used my foot to keep the dog inside and stepped outside to talk to him. Hall said he was following up on a tip they received that I looked like a suspect in a 2004 homicide

I said “You’re talking about the Johnia Berry murder.” He asked if I had heard about it, and I told him I was the Webmaster for the Johniaberry.org Web site, and that he could verify that by visiting the site and scrolling down a little. My name was on the right side along with Johnia’s brother Kelly as the maintainers of the site.

Hall said he was just following up on a report that I looked like the composite sketch, and that he hadn’t thought I looked the guy, but he had to check. I noticed Hall had a black and white printout of my driver’s license photo in his manila folder. He was using the folder to take notes about the Web site.

I’m sure there’s someone out there wondering “Golly, could it have been Les?!” Don’t take my word for it. Here’s the composite sketch of the murder suspect from December, 2004 and here’s a picture of me from our trip to BlogNashville in May, 2005. I met lots of Nashville bloggers on that trip who know what I look like, as do Knoxville bloggers. If I had to judge I’d say I’m somewhere around 15 years older and 75 pounds heavier than the person in the sketch. Also, my fingerprints are on file with the state of Tennessee because I have a handgun carry permit and fingerprinting is part of the application process.

To whoever it was that told the Sheriff’s department I look like the sketch: you’re a damned liar. You’ve obviously never seen me in person.

Hall said he was checking other leads today. That’s good, at least. I’m glad to see the sheriff’s department is following up on the leads they get.

Wolfpack Has a Blog

Monday, January 8th, 2007 | Johnia Berry | Permalink | 1 Comment |

Henry, known as Wolfpack Ledger on Johniaberry.org, has a blog.