Murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom - Suspects and Indictments

Suspects and Indictments

The four indicted were:

• George Geovonni "Detroit" Thomas (b. January 23, 1983), 24, who faced a total of 46 charges. Thomas was indicted on 16 counts of felony murder growing out of 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.

• Letalvis "Rome" Cobbins (b. December 20, 1982), 28, who faced the same 46 charges as Thomas. He has also been charged with assaulting a correctional officer while incarcerated pending trial. In 2003, Cobbins was convicted of third-degree attempted robbery in New York state. He and Davidson are brothers. Cobbins was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

• Lemaricus Devall "Slim" Davidson (b. June 13, 1981), 30, who faced the same 46 charges as Thomas. Previously Davidson had just completed a five-year sentence in Tennessee on a previous felony conviction for carjacking and aggravated robbery on August 5, 2006. Davidson, Tennessee Department of Corrections inmate#328954, is incarcerated at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.

• Vanessa Coleman (b. June 29, 1988), 18, who was arrested by the Lebanon Police Department in Lebanon, Kentucky. She faced 40 Tennessee state charges. Coleman 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 (of Christian only), 1 count of especially aggravated robbery (of Newsom only), 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. She described her time in Knoxville as "an adventure."

In each indictment, the large number of rape counts were included to provide a range of options for prosecutors, not to reflect the number of rapes that actually occurred.

• Eric DeWayne "E" Boyd, 34, was arrested in connection with the fatal carjacking, though not indicted by the Knox County grand jury. Boyd faced federal charges in United States district court as an accessory after the fact for helping the suspects evade the police. Later, Boyd was also accused by Thomas and Cobbins of rape and murder, and a search warrant was obtained for his DNA. The accusations by Thomas and Cobbins did not result in state charges against Boyd, but he is serving 18 years in federal prison on his conviction as an accessory to the carjacking.