Knoxville Couple Cruelly Raped And Murdered

Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom were on their way to a friend’s party.

Christian Newsom (left) and Channon Christian (right) | Photo Credits: Pinterest

This is yet another murder case, unique in its utter barbarity. The couple in Knoxville never saw it coming- neither did their family and the entire town. It sent shocks into the American city, and many still recount it as the worst crime in their city.

Couple Tortured One By One

January 6, 2007, was a Saturday, and 21-year-old Channon Christian and her 23-year-old boyfriend Christopher Newsom had planned a night out. After getting ready at a friend’s apartment, Channon stayed back to wait for her boyfriend. It was around 8 pm when Christopher arrived at the parking lot. Little could they have imagined what would happen afterwards.

The couple was attacked near Channon’s SUV and ruthlessly shoved into its backseat. After securing their hands into a biting knot, they were taken to one of the five assailant’s houses. What awaited them there was an unimaginable night of being sexually assaulted and being brutally beaten.

Later on, the Knox County Acting Medical Examiner, unfortunately, divulged details of the sexual assault. Christopher was sodomized by at least one of the assailants and then forced to walk barefoot on a railways track, after which he was tied up and murdered on site.

He was initially shot in the neck, with a sock shoved into his mouth to muffle any screams. Unfortunately for Christopher, the neck gunshot didn’t work, and he suffered through the sharp pain as they fatally shot him in the head. The assailants lit his body on fire to cover up their tracks.

Tortured And Suffocated To Death

Channon suffered a similar fate. After murdering Christopher, the five criminals returned to torture Channon. They repeatedly beat and raped her. The medical examiner had much to say about the cruel suffering inflicted on Channon:

“She died after hours of sexual torture and sustained severe injuries to her head, vagina, anus and mouth due to sexual assaults. It was extreme and much more than a simple sexual assault.”