A TRUE STORY OF TORTURE, MURDER, AND JUSTICE UNDONE

Weeping

ON CHIPMAN STREET

BY DENAE D'ARCY, PHD

Two young lives taken. Five convictions. And a judge’s secret that threatened to undo them all.

Available January 7, 2027, the 20th anniversary of the crimes, in paperback and ebook.

A WARNING TO THE READER

This book describes real acts of extreme violence. After 13 years of reporting on tragedies, I live with PTSD, and I know how details like these can stay with you. Take breaks as you read. Breathe. Remind yourself that you and your loved ones are safe. If you are a survivor of crime, violence, or abuse, please know there is support. You don’t have to face trauma alone.

If you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24 hours a day in the United States.

-Denae D'Arcy, PhD

ABOUT THE BOOK

Five killers were convicted. Then the judge’s secret put justice back on trial.

On a January night in 2007, Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom were carjacked in a Knoxville, Tennessee, apartment parking lot, forced into an SUV, and driven to a house on Chipman Street. What happened to them inside was so brutal that a prosecutor fainted in the courtroom when the autopsy photos were shown.Five people were convicted, and the families believed justice had been served. Then came the revelation: the judge who presided over the trials was addicted to painkillers, buying pills from a prostitute in his own court’s drug rehabilitation program. Convictions were thrown out, retrials were ordered, and two of the killers received reduced sentences.Released twenty years later, on the anniversary of the crimes, Weeping on Chipman Street is the true story of two lives taken, two families shattered, and a justice system that failed them twice.

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Introduction

Knoxville is located in East Tennessee. It sits in the shadow of the Great Smoky Mountains where thousands of tourists venture each year to hike the mossy green back trails and take their chances on seeing a mother black bear with cubs in the wild. Cades Cove Loop near Townsend, Tennessee, is especially busy and cars line up for miles to slowly drive the path, peering through the morning fog and pointing out wild turkey and deer. The scenery is picturesque in this part of the country and citizens take pride in treating others with hospitality and compassion. Knoxville is also a college town, home to proud football fans that support the University of Tennessee Volunteers. In the crisp, cool afternoons of the fall, people dressed in orange and white flood the downtown area on their way to campus, to Neyland Stadium, to cheer for the Vols.People who live in East Tennessee are generally friendly and optimistic. A recent visitor from a Northern state remarked that he was surprised when someone spoke to him at a gas station in Knoxville. The visitor was worried that the person was perhaps a panhandler and immediately shrugged him off. That’s how most people in Knoxville are: open, unafraid, and willing to strike up a conversation with strangers.A horrific crime occurred in this church-raised, slower-paced city. It happened in the dark, cold hours of the early morning. For almost 20 years the story has remained quiet, with memorials of the victims arranged by family and covered by local news media. The darkness will never completely lift, but this account may bring color to the lives of Channon and Chris, remind us that justice is somewhat attainable, and that even judges are not above the law.

Contact Denae: [email protected]