A Knoxville man is facing murder, rape and kidnapping charges after police conducted a welfare check at a home on Bellevue Street.
57 year-old Joe Whitaker is accused of killing 76 year-old Julius Parker and keeping a woman hostage in the home for five days.
According to an incident report, Whitaker left his job at Café 4 in Market Square on February 12 with a large kitchen knife, telling his boss he was going to the home “to hurt someone.” The manager then called 911 and requested a check, the report said.
An officer responded to the home but reportedly was not able to find anyone.
Five days later, Parker’s nephew went to the home to investigate after not hearing from his uncle for several days, the report said. There, according to the report, he saw Whitaker and a trail of blood leading to a body in the basement covered by a blanket. The nephew then left the home, the report said.
After another 911 call, this time from the nephew, an officer reportedly once again responded to the home. When he arrived, the officer was invited in by the second victim, the report said. That officer also found the trail of blood and the body, according to the report, and took Whitaker into custody.
While in custody, Whitaker allegedly confessed to killing Parker over a monetary dispute and “Parker’s alleged sexual advances” toward the second victim. That second victim told officers that she had seen Whitaker come into the home through a basement window and stab Parker before taking the body to the basement.
She also told officers that she had been kept in the house at gunpoint and raped several times.
Additionally, the report said that Whitaker had stolen Parker’s car and driven it to Broadway, leaving the gun and the keys in the ignition “in hopes it would be stolen by homeless in the area.”
Whitaker, who was booked into the Roger D. Wilson Detention Facility, was charged with first-degree murder, especially aggravated kidnapping, rape and other charges, according to Knoxville Police Department Communications Manager Scott Erland.
Story courtesy of WVLT
