Another hoax call at a University, this time close to home.
Yesterday (Mon) afternoon, Knoxville Police received a phone call of a person with a weapon at Hodges Library on the University of Tennessee Campus.
UT Police were on scene in less than one minute and along with Knoxville Police reviewed footage of cameras in and around the library which revealed there was no actual threat.
Law enforcement searched the building as a precaution and no threat was found.
The Knox County Sheriff’s Office is asking for help to find a missing teen.
15 year-old Asher Ford was reported missing last night (mon) from the Chert Pit Road and Middlebrook Pike area.
He was last seen on the corner of Chert Pit Road and Andes Road and was possibly seen at the Weigels at 9729 Middlebrook Pike around 9:15 p.m. Officials say he has runaway history.
If you have any information, please call KCSO.
He is 5’11” with black hair and brown eyes and weighs 150 pounds.
He has a scar on his left list and was last seen wearing a navy shirt, black shorts and gray crocs.
HANCOCK COUNTY, TN ( Story courtesy of WVLT) – The office of District Attorney General Dan Armstrong and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation are looking into an “incident” involving a member of the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office.
The district attorney confirmed to WVLT News Monday morning that the investigation involved a law enforcement officer from HCSO. He wasn’t able to confirm if any charges had been filed. However, the TBI is now saying the incident did not involve a deputy, but one was present.
Armstrong was able to confirm it happened Saturday night.
According to the TBI, the “incident” was an assault.
“To my knowledge, the individual accused in the assault is not a deputy,” TBI Spokesperson Leslie Earhart said. “At the request of 3rd Judicial District Attorney General Dan Armstrong, TBI agents are investigating the circumstances leading to an assault that occurred in Hancock County. At this time, the investigation remains ongoing.”
The TBI changed course a bit later, offering a different statement.
In that statement, the TBI said the assault did not involve a deputy at all, but an off-duty deputy was present.
“After speaking with the District Attorney’s Office, I want to provide some additional context that will hopefully clear up some confusion, Earhart said. ”The individuals directly involved in the assault are not deputies. However, an off-duty deputy was present.”
Hancock County Sheriff Brad Brewer confirmed to WVLT News the investigation involved his chief deputy, who is no longer with the sheriff’s office.
Clinton, TN (WOKI) – Today (Monday), convicted death penalty murderer Sean Shannon Finnegan entered a guilty plea to Rape of a Child regarding two children that were raped in Oak Ridge in 2019.
He also entered a guilty plea to 13 charges of Especially Aggravated Sexual Exploitation of a Minor. For these convictions, Senior Judge Don Ash, appearing specially, sentenced Finnegan to an additional fifty (50) years at 100% in prison along with his mandatory listing and compliance with the requirements of the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry and Community Supervision for Life.
His sentence will run consecutively to the death penalty sentence. The trial against Finnegan was scheduled to begin this morning before he entered his plea. In August 2024, Finnegan was convicted of the gruesome murder of Jennifer Paxton, whose body he stored in a freezer in his Oak Ridge apartment. Finnegan was convicted of eleven (11) counts following a jury trial in that case. He was sentenced to death for the murder of Jennifer Paxton and received an additional forty-five (45) years related to other crimes committed against Jennifer Paxton. Since that time, Finnegan has been housed on death row at Tennessee’s Riverbend Maximum Security Prison.
In all of these crimes, Finnegan had a co-defendant, Rebecca Dishman. Dishman earlier entered a plea in the case of the murder of Jennifer Paxton as well as a plea involving the separate case of raping the two children. She had agreed to cooperate in the prosecution of Finnegan and testified against him in the murder trial. Dishman has since been housed in a Tennessee Department of Correction prison.
Both Dishman and Finnegan had been transferred from the State prisons to the Anderson County Detention Facility in anticipation of them both appearing in the rape trial that was scheduled to start today. Both will be returned to their respective prisons.
In August, 2020, Rebecca Dishman fled the home she shared with Finnegan while seeking domestic violence help and shelter. Her report triggered an investigation by the Oak Ridge Police Department, the 7th Judicial Crime Task Force, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the District Attorney General’s Office. That investigation revealed Paxton’s frozen body and ultimately the evidence that Finnegan and Dishman had raped the two children and video recorded at least portions of the crime.
Upon the entry of today’s plea, District Attorney General Dave Clark remarked, “today’s plea recognizes the additional crimes Sean Finnegan and Rebecca Dishman committed against these young victims. They deserved justice just as Jennifer Paxton did. This also marks the end of a long saga in investigating and prosecuting Finnegan and Dishman that has occupied our office and law enforcement in our community for years.
We have dedicated our professional lives to making days like this happen; to hold the guilty responsible for what they have done and to prevent them from harming anyone else. I am grateful in this immediate case for the work of Assistant District Attorneys Sarah Keith and Meredith Slemp who led the prosecution in these rape cases along with all the police officers, investigators, agents and other staff who worked to bring Finnegan and Dishman to justice.
GATLINBURG, TN —The National Park Service (NPS) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) continue to work quickly to repair the road washout on US 441/Newfound Gap Road. The FHWA has awarded the contract to Eclipse Companies, LLC, and the NPS and FHWA held a pre-construction meeting with the contractor on Friday. The contractor will begin mobilizing equipment and supplies this week.
Construction is expected to be completed on or before September 30.
Late on August 1, the park responded to reports of a road washout and landslide event on Newfound Gap Road between mile marker 12 and 13 on the Tennessee side of the park (south of Alum Cave trailhead). The affected area spans approximately 125 feet and has significantly undercut nearly the entire width of the southbound lane. On August 2, NPS and FWHA engineers visited the slide and immediately began project scoping. Both agencies worked quickly to complete the required steps of the design, permitting and contracting processes for construction.
The NPS reopened US441/Newfound Gap Road on the North Carolina side of the park from Oconaluftee to Newfound Gap on August 3. Many visitors have taken advantage of the partial reopening which allows access to Newfound Gap Overlook, Kuwohi and other points of interest. Visitors are reminded to follow detour and closure signs for their own safety.
Planning to visit the park? Visitors may need to adjust their travel plans due to the closure of US441/Newfound Gap Road between Sugarlands and Newfound Gap. However, there is still plenty to explore and enjoy in the Smokies. On the Tennessee side of the park, consider exploring areas like Cosby and Greenbrier for hiking, or take in the scenic views from Foothills Parkway.
Parking areas at popular trailheads may be especially busy while US441/Newfound Gap Road is partially closed. Consider taking a shuttle to your destination: https://go.nps.gov/GRSMShuttles
Two people are injured in a pedestrian crash in Pigeon Forge.
The Pigeon Forge Police Department say it happened Friday night at the intersection of U.S. 441 and East Wears Valley Road.
The two people were trying to cross the northbound lanes and were not inside a crosswalk at the time, both were taken to the and their conditions have not been released.
The driver stayed on the scene and police say it’s the second reported pedestrian-involved crash to happen in Pigeon Forge this month. A woman was hit on August 8th and later died at the hospital.
An investigation is underway after a drove into a Panera Bread restaurant.
Alcoa Police to Panera off Louisville Road Saturday and found a Subaru Outback that had gone through the front doors of the building.
APD says there were no injuries to either of the people in the car or to anyone in the restaurant.
The building was damaged from the crash and the electricity turned off at the restaurant for repairs which kept the restaurant closed yesterday (Sunday).
