January 2007 in Knoxville, Tennessee, wasn't just cold; it was the month the city lost its sense of safety. Honestly, if you live in East Tennessee, you still hear these names spoken with a specific kind of heavy silence. Channon Christian and Chris Newsom were just two young people on a date, heading to a friend's house to watch a movie. They never made it.
What followed wasn't just a crime. It was a nightmare that stretched across years of trials, retrials, and a massive amount of internet misinformation that still floats around today. Basically, if you think you know everything that happened at 2316 Chipman Street, you might be surprised by how much the actual court records differ from the viral rumors.
The Night Everything Changed
It was Saturday, January 6. Channon was 21, a senior at the University of Tennessee. Chris was 23, a former high school baseball star working for a carpentry company. They were the "golden couple" type—happy, full of life, and completely unaware they were being watched.
Around 10:00 p.m., they were carjacked in the parking lot of the Washington Ridge Apartments. This wasn't a random mugging gone wrong. It was a targeted abduction. The group of assailants forced them into Channon’s silver Toyota 4Runner and drove them to a small, cramped rental house on Chipman Street.
The horror that happened inside that 805-square-foot house is difficult to process. Chris was taken from the house relatively quickly. He was forced to walk barefoot to a set of nearby railroad tracks. His hands were bound, his feet tied, and he was blindfolded. He was shot three times—once in the neck, once in the back, and a final, fatal shot to the head. To cover their tracks, the killers wrapped him in a comforter and set his body on fire.
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The Search for Channon
While Chris’s body was found the next day by a railroad employee, the search for Channon continued for three days. Her family didn't wait for the police. They did the legwork themselves, tracking her cell phone pings to the Cherry Street area.
When police finally entered the Chipman Street house on Tuesday, January 9, they found a scene that hardened investigators still talk about. Channon was found in a kitchen trash can, stashed inside five large garbage bags. The medical examiner, Dr. Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan, later testified that Channon didn't die instantly. She suffered hours of sexual torture and eventually suffocated. In a desperate, sickening attempt to remove DNA evidence, her attackers had poured bleach down her throat and scrubbed her body with it while she was still alive.
Separating Fact from Viral Fiction
You’ve probably seen the posts online. The ones claiming Channon’s breasts were cut off or that Chris was castrated. Those details are objectively false.
Gary Christian, Channon’s father, has been vocal about this. While the crimes were unspeakably brutal, the "mutilation" rumors were largely fueled by outside groups trying to stoke racial tensions. The Knox County Medical Examiner confirmed that no body parts were missing from either victim.
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Another big misconception involves the "media blackout." People often claim the national news ignored the case because the victims were white and the perpetrators were Black. In reality, the case was covered extensively by local outlets and eventually by national programs like In Session and CNN. However, the sheer brutality meant many details were withheld from early press releases to protect the integrity of the investigation, which some people interpreted as a cover-up.
The Legal Chaos of Judge Baumgartner
If the murders weren't enough of a tragedy, the legal process was a total mess. All five people involved—Lemaricus Davidson, Letalvis Cobbins, George Thomas, Vanessa Coleman, and eventually Eric Boyd—were convicted. But then, the system buckled.
It turned out the presiding judge, Richard Baumgartner, was a literal criminal himself. He was addicted to painkillers, buying pills from a defendant in his own court and even having a sexual relationship with a woman in a drug program he supervised.
Because of his misconduct, several of the convictions were initially overturned. The families had to sit through the trauma of new trials all over again. It was a secondary victimization that lasted years. Eventually, the Tennessee Supreme Court stepped in, and most of the original sentences were upheld or reinstated after new trials.
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Where the Case Stands Today
As of 2026, the people responsible are where they belong.
- Lemaricus Davidson: The ringleader. He remains on death row. He has filed numerous appeals, but his death sentence has been repeatedly upheld.
- Letalvis Cobbins: Davidson’s half-brother. Serving life without parole.
- George Thomas: Also serving life without parole.
- Vanessa Coleman: Convicted of facilitation. She was sentenced to 35 years and has been denied parole multiple times, most recently in late 2020.
- Eric Boyd: For years, he was only convicted on federal charges for the carjacking. It took until 2019 for him to finally be convicted of the murders. He is serving multiple life sentences.
Lessons in Safety and Justice
This case changed Tennessee law. In 2014, "Channon’s Law" and "Chris’s Law" were introduced to ensure that the most violent offenders face stricter sentencing and that judges are held to higher standards of accountability.
If there is any "actionable" takeaway from a tragedy this profound, it’s about awareness and the power of persistence. The Christian and Newsom families didn't just mourn; they became experts in the legal system to ensure their children weren't forgotten.
What you can do to stay informed:
- Verify Crime Statistics: Don't rely on social media graphics for "hidden" crime data. Use the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for verified data on crime motives and demographics.
- Support Victim Advocacy: Organizations like the National Center for Victims of Crime offer resources for families navigating the "secondary trauma" of the court system.
- Monitor Judicial Accountability: Check your local bar association’s ratings of judges before elections. The Baumgartner situation showed that who sits on the bench matters as much as who is in the jury box.
The Chipman Street house is gone now—it was demolished in 2008—but the legacy of Channon and Chris remains in the laws they inspired and the community that refused to let their story be silenced.
To support the legacy of the victims, you can look into the Channon Gail Christian Memorial Scholarship at the University of Tennessee, which helps students who embody her spirit of kindness and ambition.