The Rocky Top Murders

Hi, I'm Holly and I'm Haley. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries Tales from Appalachia. Welcome back y'all. Haley.

I had given Haley some coffee and she was drinking it and then she said as I was heading back upstairs to get the stuff. She said, do you have anything that could get the coffee taste out of my mouth and I was thinking she wanted some water or something. I said, oh, well, you know, what do you want? I have water.

I have, you know, I'm just kind of candy. She's kind of candy here. And I was like, oh, that kind of taste out of your mouth. Yes, I do, actually.

So we had leftover peeps from Easter. My son didn't want to eat, even though he said he wanted them, of course, and so Haley's mentioned on those and some delightful Montauk Peperch Farm cookies that are soft baked. They're from my friend. Shout out, friend, you know who you are.

I don't want to say her name, just in case I'm bearish, but yeah, she gave them to me because she said she didn't realize they were soft baked. And I said, sweet, it's a soft baked on the package. So I was really upset by that. So she gave me soft baked.

It's okay. She's college educated, but sometimes sorry. And you listen to the barbells. How scary.

So I'm going to eat a cookie while you tell me story. Yes, I'm going to tell you a story. And so I'm so inspired by my trip to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee two weeks ago that when I was looking for stories, they're just so much murder and mayhem over in that direction. I mean, it's wild.

So I went like a town over into Gatlinburg, Tennessee, which is like Pigeon Forge adjacent. I've stayed in both places, Sten Gatlinburg. I think feels a little more less touristy. Yeah, I was not as much like stuff.

Like the Vegas East side. Yes, it's a little bit more refined. Some dude. Yeah, a lot more cabins and cabins in the woods.

I mean, it's all in the mountains. Seamake, a little quieter. I feel like a little calmer. Good place for honeymoon.

Good place for like, you know, just like a calmer, Juba-nating trip. They have some and they have more of the like little like mom-and-pop shops and like it just feels really like small town-ness. I haven't been there in a little else. I may not be that way now, but make your own sweater from the lume.

Yeah, like that kind of like pottery and like they have a really cool, really cool knife store over there. Oh, my life. Is this really neat? Please tell me you did not go to the knife store.

I did not go this last time. I've been before. It's what's smoking out in the knife works. Things what it's called.

But people come from like all over the country to go there. Like it's a huge deal. Very cool. But yeah, there's a lot of that kind of stuff over there.

So it's about if you're in Pigeon Forge and you take the road there, it's about 20-30 minute drive. Very scenic. I'm very aware to turn around. You would be very careful if you are not good with lots of curves and hills and stuff.

You may want to take the two well. Yeah, and I am not good with those. So I either have to sit in the front seat or drive anywhere we go. Same.

So I end up driving a lot, which is fine. I hate driving, but it's fine. Well, it's fine. It's fine.

Okay, it's fine. That's how you know that it's actually not fine. Right. And also like if you're not good with wildlife in the road, it may not place for you.

A lot of deer, a lot of raccoons, possums, bear, huge deal, rock bears, everywhere. She pulled over immediately and said, they're dead or mom. And they put it in the back of the truck. And they put it in the back of the truck.

And I have been, so in the town I live, I live in a college town. So there's like a ton of people all over the place all the time. And it's just a lot. There's people everywhere.

But so colleges was in like the students were in, colleges in session. And I was driving to the grocery store one day. Well, the car in front of me hit a deer and like killed it. I'm a big truck hit against deer.

There were students like walking down the hill. So they're all distraught. So I have to, yeah, because they killed the deer and the students were not from here. So they were not like used to seeing wildlife being run over, which I mean, it is sad.

Like I'm like, oh deer. But yeah, the guy killed the deer. I mean, quickly on impact. And so I had to stop because traffic stopped now.

So I get out, just like make sure he's okay because the big deer will set off your bags. So like in my car, like it would total my car. Yeah. So he was like, like a big truck.

Like it knocked the front piece off, but he was fine. And the trooper got there. And we're all just kind of standing around looking at this big deer. And troopers like, I mean, it's not really that messed up.

Like you want to take it home? And the guy's like, I mean, yeah, sure. So he just loaded up this deer through the back of his truck to the shock and horror of these college students that have watched this whole thing because I mean, it was still good. It was fresh kill.

Oh, geez. Okay. So like he took like loaded in the back to get home sure skin it out and make it. But that like happens regularly.

I was waiting for you to say the deer wasn't actually dead. Oh, no, I'm very dead. Okay. Well, dead deer.

But yeah, I mean, it was still like fresh and I'm gonna be honest. Just check in the back. I'm kind of city-fied in the in the sense of that wouldn't be my first instinct. I would be like, doesn't like, you know, the animal people have to come and like pick them up and dispose of me properly and all the things that you do.

Maybe but like, it's just gonna waste like it's good meat. Like it's gonna waste it. All right. Like that's the first time I've seen that happen.

Oh, sure. Like it's still in like still intact and you know, it's not like a blurated. It's true. Which happens when like big trucks hit deer sometimes it's nasty.

But yeah, it was in like good shape. All right. Just broke a sec. Throw that sucker in the back, strap it down, roll on.

The four to f 250. But then you know, you got to make it sound good. You know what the pub with the guys. Yeah, pub what are we in England?

The brewery with the guys like suddenly you're like, yeah, I'll shout me a big old one and show a picture, you know, and you're like, whoa. It was huge. You don't want to tell them that they actually committed suicide by running into your Yeah. So but yeah, that's uh, so that's kind of the vibe that we're going with kind of where we're at.

Lots of deer, lots of bear, lots of wildlife. Things are happening. Okay. Yes.

Let's go to September of 1986. Do you know what was happening around that? 1986 in that area? Oh, I was using the potty, but I can't.

I don't know. That 1986 is the year that Dolly would opened. Oh, so we talked about a couple weeks ago in the forage. So this is like right there too.

Dollywood opened. Severeval and Severeval, Tennessee in 1986. So this town that went from, you know, not a whole lot happening, yeah, like blew up overnight. I mean, I think in the first year, there was somewhere between like, I don't even know how many that hundreds of thousands.

It was interesting because when Dolly kind of came up with the idea, they kind of laughed around the room. Yeah. Yeah. Like, like with that, that's going to totally fail.

Now it's like a huge, like, multi-million dollar. Yeah. And everybody was like praising her. Oh, and it's fantastic.

You've never been to Dollywood? Yeah. So fun. Yeah, it is.

But you can often like get good passes and get good deals. So that was kind of what was going on. There's a lot of things happening in the area. Things are coming up.

Things are going on. So lots of animals, lots of dead catcheters. Big catcheters. Oh, big catcheters.

Opening theme parks. Thing parks. Lots going on. So family friendly, the ladies, actually.

Sorry. Good. I loved Ollie. I loved her music.

Sorry. Just fantastic. Anyway, September 13th, 1986. We have Melissa Hill and Troy Valentine.

They're working on a normal shift at the Rocky Top Village Inn in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. So this was like, we say it in. It was a motel. Like a roadside door.

Yeah. Yeah. Motel situation. So the way this motel was kind of set up and laid out is that the main office was on Airport Road, was the road.

And then there was a smaller office on Reagan at Drive. So I'm picturing this place kind of like on a corner type situation. Like an L-shape kind of thing. Yeah.

So or like multiple rows. Like sometimes they're like that and I didn't look at the picture. So I don't know. But I'm assuming this kind of smaller office may have been maybe where housekeeping kept their stuff or like the guests that were on that inn could go.

Maybe there was an ice machine in there. A lovely. That kind of thing is kind of what I'm imagining. Where you could go by crack in the corner.

You could go by crack in the corner. The main office is where you're checking in, checking out. You're getting your methamphetamine up there. We got to go get the time.

So probably Quayludes. Ooh. Yeah. Yeah.

A little prostitution. You know things happening in the sweatshop. Yeah. Or we've just completely made it up.

Right. I think it was actually a nice photo. Oh. We completely made it up.

And we were sorry to offend. Sorry to offend Motel in her's everywhere. So that's kind of how it was set up. So that night Robert Bennett, who was also working with him, he was working the main office and Melissa was working her normal 3-11 PM shift in the smaller office.

So Robert told the police that he had last spoken to Melissa at around 7-30 or 8 and he had tried to call her again around 10 but she didn't answer. So it's not like it's close enough for them to like see each other I guess. So they have to call to check in or do whatever they need to do. So Melissa's husband who is also a dispatcher with the police department said that he spoke to her on the phone around 10-30.

Well Robert was a little concerned that he couldn't get a hold of Melissa. So he asked Troy the security guard to go and check on her and just make sure she's good. Everything's fine. So he says sure I'll go back there.

So even though Troy was a security guard, he was not armed. Like he had a weapon. He did have a flashlight. Hey, at least he's got something.

Got something going for him there. So we don't arm them. We just give them flashlights. It's fine.

It's fine. So Melissa's husband called her again around 11 which I'm sure is probably normal the end of her shift. He's calling like a okay. How you doing?

Going home? I'm safe. Let me know. You know you get home kind of thing.

But she didn't answer at that point. So Robert who now could not get a hold of Troy. Also decided you know he would try to go figure out what was going on. So he leaves the main office around 1130 and goes over to the Reagan drive office.

So like I think it was a walkable distance from what I understand. It may not have been someone will correct me. I'm sure. And he noticed as he approached the lights were on in the office as well as in the two bedroom suite that was next to the office.

So there was like a it seems like the office was here and the motel kind of started. I checked the side. They were connected. Beside the office.

So the lyser on there was just like weird good celebrity and I. What are you doing? Right. So as he passed by he looked through the motel room window and saw Troy's body lying on the floor and immediately called police was like absolutely not calls the police.

I 100% I would do books it calls the police doesn't even go in calls the police and it's like runs back to his middle. So the catwoman police arrived and they found Troy and Melissa's bodies in the motel suite. Troy was on his back in the little like kitchenette area on the floor and Melissa was on her back leaning against the bed and the wall. So I think she was on the floor like kind of against the bed.

I don't think she was on the bed. Um, is this she was on a prone position? I don't know what prone prone position. Okay.

I didn't when I wrote those. Okay, we'll get there. Okay. So there was also about $500 missing from the office and Melissa's purse was gone.

So we're thinking around. Dr. Cleveland Blake who was the forensic pathologist came to the scene early in the morning hours of 14th. So they called this in 1130.

Police get there and they call the pathologist. Um, he saw there was a flashlight which was still on. So Troy had taken the flashlight and turned it on. Um, probably as he was walking or whatever got out of his car, however he got there.

It was on. There was a handcuff attached to Troy's left wrist. Troy was lying in a pool of blood that was about 15 inches away from his body. So big pool of blood and Melissa had massive amounts of blood around her neck and her shirt was soaked from her neck to her waist in blood.

There's also blood on her blue jeans and on the carpet around her. So lots of blood. Well, and by the way, a prone position is actually where you're laying face down. Um, and you're kind of flat on the floor.

Um, let's see. Here's, here's what the Google says. Prone position is a body position in which the person lies flat with the chest down in the back up in anatomical terms, terms of location. The dorsal side is up and the ventral side is down.

The supine position would be the opposite. So supine would be if you are face up, but she was actually face down. Well, that's weird because the article said she was face up in a prone position that feels counterintuitive. I don't know how she was.

Maybe they meant supine. I don't know. Maybe. Who knows?

Sorry. It's all good. She was dead. It doesn't matter.

I mean, she was dead. Um, so the autopsy revealed that Melissa had been shot at close range in the top left side of her head. Um, and she also been stabbed 18 times. This is very excessive for robbery.

The fatal injury, they said was a deep cut across her neck that had actually cut into her shrink. Oh my God. And the major blood vessels. Um, and actually had been said he'd been at chipped her spinal column.

Oh, yeah. That's really horrific. Um, the wound was described by Dr. Blake as very savage.

Yeah. Um, and it had been made by the knife going in and out like three times. It's almost like a sawing motion. The husband suddenly couldn't get a hold of him.

He wasn't involved, was he? No. Okay. Just making sure because this kind of seems like a active passion almost.

Right. Not that you continue with. I know. There's some things in this that feels really...

It's not a lot. It's a lot. Um, let's see. Okay.

So he also thought that she had been stabbed before she had been shot. So she was stabbed first. She had a defensive wound on her right palm, and there were three superficial wounds on the back of her neck. Um, and there was some discolored bruising on her wrists, which she thought that she had been, um, somehow constricted around the wrist.

So either, you know, yanked hard by her wrist or had that hand cuff on her at some point. Yeah. Um, so Troy's autopsy revealed several stab wounds on his chest and back. Um, there were also cuts to the back of his head.

He suffered a deep stab wound into the bone of the jaw and a large stab wound that went into his neck. Um, there was also a cut on top of his head that was inflicted by a round object, um, which they thought was probably his own flashlight. He had a gunshot wound between his eyes. Um, and they...

Which was S. Well, yeah, they thought either the gunshot or the stab wound to the neck. Either one would have been it for him. Um, so the Dr.

Blake thought that Troy was probably first hit on the head and then that would have rendered him unconscious. So he would have been unconscious for being shot and stabbed. So just really awful all the way around. Um, both of them had a deep neck wound with sharp sawtooth markings from a knife with a serrated edge.

So that's important later. Okay. So that's kind of where we're at. Um, a few days later, on September 16th, an envelope marked, please give to a policeman, was found in a phone booth near Maggie Valley, North Carolina, which is not too, too far away from there.

Um, it's almost like the opposite direction, though. Like an hour? Yeah, like you'd have to go. I'm trying to think.

I gotta get there from, yeah, hit 40 and go that way. You can go that way. You can. Or even do the long way and cut back through, like the hot springs-ish area.

It would be depending on where you're coming from, each other to go to Maggie Valley. So, but still like, not a close by. Yeah, not like the next number. So inside the envelope, there was a letter and a small knife that was actually found out to be a knife that was given to Melissa by her husband that she normally kept in her purse.

So this knife is in the envelope too. The letter, um, which they did read in court, so there's some record of it. It apparently asked her for a given quote for killing those two people in Gatlinburg. Um, and, you know, expressed some remorse, said that she was just wanting the money, had intended to leave the two victims handcuffed in the room.

However, the guard tried to take the the gun. Um, in there it says Joe seen him and hit the guard with the light. And according to the letter, Joe then went crazy and cut them up and forced, you know, whoever was writing this letter to shoot the victims. So the author of the letter admitted he had shot the guard between the eyes and had hoped that he had missed when he shot at Melissa.

He was afraid that Joe would have killed him if he had not done what he had said. And he hoped that the victims had no children and he remarked that he could not sleep and was sorry it happened. Um, and he was returning the knife because, quote, it might mean something to someone. So this was like, sounds like there's more than one person involved too.

So at least two people involved. Some coercion. So this other guy was probably along, it sounds like along for the robbery. Things went crazy.

And now he's feeling remorse. And it could be a drug situation. Maybe, you know, they were trying to get high, like all these things looking for money to buy drugs and one thing led to another. I know.

Okay. So who's Joe? I don't know. Let's find out, shall we?

Yeah. And all of this information. Right. I want to know all these things.

Yeah. So all this information is coming from the actual like trial documents. Okay. So the way that it's written is a little different.

So he was obviously last names a lot more than I did to in the stories. But we'll get through it. So Joseph Demodica's testimony. So that's who we end up finding out is Joe.

How did they find him? Like, how did they make that connection? I'm sorry. We're gonna get there.

Yep. So Joe is Joseph Demodica. So this was his testimony, pretty much. Okay.

So he testified that Eddie tattoo Leroy Harris and a transgender, I'm assuming woman. And this is also written in the 80s to the use words like Transvestite, which would be don't use that language. So by Ashley Silver's, they had met in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in late August 1986. They drove to Daytona, Florida, and into Georgia where tattoo Eddie is what kind of his name, his girlfriend, Kimberly Pelly joined them.

So the four of them then traveled to Knoxville. So we've got Joe, tattoo, Ashley, Ashley, and Kimberly. So they're all traveling together. So the four of them traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee, where Demodica worked as a mail stripper at a bar called the Pepper Tree.

So, Demodica thought that works at the Apple Tree. This is the Pepper Tree. I like that seasoning. Yeah, I'm just a little more spicy there.

So, Demodica thought that he and tattoo Eddie here could obtain jobs as mail strippers. So when they got to the Pepper Tree, that, you know, they joke. So they get to the Pepper Tree. And it seems like it didn't really work out for them as mail strippers.

They just weren't going to be able to get the job. So they borrowed money from a friend. And so they were going to get a motel room for the night. They've been traveling.

So on Monday, this is like the week of the murders. This group of four, we've got tattoo Eddie, Kimberly, Ashley, and Joe. They go to the Knoxville residence of a Tracy Clark who was a friend of Demodica. With Clark's permission, they slept in the car in her driveway.

So she's like, you cannot stay here, but you can sleep in the car in the driveway. You can park here. What a close friend. Great friend.

So they also then spent the Friday night in Knoxville at the apartment of Tim Farmer, another one of Joe's friends, a lot of friends. So tattoo Eddie and Joe, indicated to this Tim Farmer guy that they intended to return to Gatlinburg on Saturday. It would not be performing that night at the Pepper Tree. I thought they didn't tell.

I think Joe already worked at the Pepper Tree and he was trying to get to Eddie and get job at the Pepper Tree. I think that that worked out. Maybe it did. I don't know, but they're like, listen, we're not going to throw up tonight.

We're going to go to Gatlinburg. So, it's just not how to go. I'm not going to strip tonight. That's what I say.

I'm like, you know, just let me live in my moo moo. Not going to strip tonight. No, no, no, no. I got a headache.

So on the afternoon of Saturday, September 13th, the four of them left Tim Farmer's apartment. Later that day in Dandridge, they tried to sell a leather coat, a mink coat, and a radio that they had stolen from Tim Farmer to a Johnny Schulz, who was again, another one of Joe's friends. What? Was that from one and sell to the others?

She refused to purchase any of that because she liked this has been stolen. Where did this stuff go? They did, however, get to sell the radio at a service station and leather coat at a bar. You're a beer with friends.

You're like, hey there. You look chilly. You like this leather coat. It's only $300.

Yeah. So in this testimony, Tracey Clark, Tim Farmer, and Jeff Tule, who was Farmer's neighbor, said that while in Knoxville, Tatoo Eddie carried two knives, a lock blade knife and leather sheath on his belt, and then a large hunting knife with a serrated edge. So Tim Farmer testified later that Harris and, so Harris is Tatoo Eddie, and Joe DeMonica, which is like a fun shirper name, I guess, indicated to him that they also had a gun in their car. So they were establishing they have the weapons.

They told people, one stripper name would be like Chester Drawers. I think that sounds better. My quicker name Chester. Chester.

Chester Drawers. Chester Drawers. Yeah. That sounds pretty good.

That's pretty good. That's something. Maybe one salt, the other's pepper. The pepper tree.

Oh my god. Sorry. I have failed. So they have this gun.

Okay. They have the gun. Tim Farmer also said that he had seen a pair of handcuffs hanging on their rearview mirror in their car, which is a Toyota. Just fun back.

Thank you. Tim Farmer also said that Tatoo Eddie had told him about a friend of his who like to quote get people high, handcuff them to trees, and do obscene things to them. I'm going to go ahead and go out on a limb here that the friend is Tatoo Eddie. I don't think that's a huge lead.

Yeah. Yeah. So and do things to them like sexually do obscene things to them. I'm going to assume that.

So interestingly enough though, Joe's testimony was the only direct evidence to the murders. There's no disagreements. Well, that's a 1986. Yes.

So he tells us how he tells the story. On September 13th, the For some drew through Pigeon Forge in Gotlenburg and then went on to the Laurel Falls area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. After they walked to the falls and I still hiked the falls, they returned to Catlenburg where Tatoo Eddie suggested that they rent two motel owners for the night. Joe then said that he quote knew something was going to happen.

The group drove to the Rocky Top Village Inn, Kimberly Peel got out of the car or Pelly, sorry, you could go out of the car and went into the office and came out with Melissa Hill, who took her into the motel room next door, apologize to show where like, hey, this is what you're gonna say. So Joe and Tatoo Eddie then get out of the car and follow Kimberly into the room. The three then come out of the room and go back to the office. Melissa and Kimberly went behind the desk.

There was a quote, little commotion after which the three returned to the adjoining motel room. So I'm assuming this is probably where they went and stole the money. So they show like Kimberly was keeping her occupied while they went and took the money or they all went back and went by the desk. I bet they took Melissa in there.

Okay, gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah. So Joe who is standing in the parking lot with actually Silver's saw a knife in Kimberly's hand as they returned to the motel room.

Joe was unable to see into the room. However, he heard a couple of noises, like a couple of bumps and a loud scream and then a muffled scream. A security guard drove up in a golf cart. So that's how he got there in a golf cart.

Mmm. Cough cart. Gough cart and went straight into the office. When the guard started for the room, Tatoo Eddie came out, the two men exchanged words and began to fight.

The guard then quickly began to overpower Tatoo Eddie. Kimberly came out of the room and took the guard's flashlight and hit him in the head with it. They then dragged the guard into the room. Joe heard into Joe's in the parking lot his whole time.

So he says he heard another bump and a grunt and then Tatoo Eddie screaming, if you don't do what I tell you to do, you'll wind up like them immediately. Two gunshots followed. So Tatoo Eddie and Kimberly came out of the room carrying a gym bag and a purse and he said they looked like they had been sprayed with red paint. So blood.

The four of them then drove back to Knoxville where Joe and Ashley Smith and Knight in Tracy Clark's car again. Um while Tatoo Eddie and Kimberly left in the Toyota they were driving. The next morning the four of them got back together and they washed their clothes at Londermatt and then they left Knoxville and drove on to Nashville where they remained for a few days. So that's his story.

While they were in Nashville Joe told Tatoo Eddie that he or sorry Tatoo Eddie told Joe that he might have hurt or killed somebody back at the hotel. Joe's like you don't say. So Joe and Ashley Silver's then left Tatoo Eddie and Kimberly in Nashville and they drove back to Knoxville and then to Gatlinburg where they were detained and questioned by the Londermatt police about possessing a stolen vehicle and participating in the murders. So they're just driving around in his car.

So Joe first denied any knowledge of the murders but then he told police that they were looking for the wrong person. 15 months later it's almost a year later. Yeah a little over a year later. While Joe was in Georgia officers again questioned about the murder.

So he's kind of like taken up for Tatoo Eddie here. He said like you're looking for a person. I was talking about don't anything have these murders. So something then happened and he was in Georgia and officers again catch up with him.

Question about it. So who wrote the letter then? Who? So I don't know because because they're implying Joe right there.

Not Joe right and saying that Joe did this and then I was forced to shoot yeah this scenario doesn't make sense. It doesn't add up. So there were several other witnesses that come into play here that are like saying or they saw all these people. None of it's super important.

They're talking about you know the trial. They're talking about seeing all the knife and everything else and all the things that we're stolen. All the knife or just seven it. Just some of them.

Just saw all the knives. All the knife. I saw all the knife. On December 16th in 1987.

So this is little over a year. Tatoo Eddie gets arrested in Atlanta, Georgia. So he's being questioned at this point to you about his involvement in the murder. So he told a Tennessee Bureau of Investigations agent that he had never been to the Allenberg.

And then in a series of contradictory and ambiguous statements given to both the TBI and Georgia law enforcement officer shortly after his arrest. He denied participating in the killings and said that Joe and Ashley were the murders. He denied being in Knoxville with Joe and Ashley. He denied at every meeting this Tim Farmer Guy.

He denied going to Gatlinburg unless he added Kimberly said they'd been there. So he's like never been anywhere. I don't know these people unless Kimberly said I did. But if she said it then it's probably true.

That's probably true. So he's very contradictory here. Yeah. He denied ever having been to Maggie Valley.

He denied spending the night at the home of anybody named Tim. He stated that it was Joe who had a knife in the car and a pair of handcuffs. But he would then later admit that to being in Pigeon Forge. So he's just kind of all over the place.

All right. Thomas Vastrich who is a United States postal inspector at the Service Crime Laboratory in Memphis, which is a job and a place I'd like to visit. That's interesting. Yeah.

So he was apparently I think like a handwriting expert. So he was able to like, which I feel like is not really a thing. Any more like I would have said that. My care evidence is kind of like hard to know.

Well, you know, nowadays you got to have like a text analyst. Yeah. You know, like who you know, who the heck is writing letters nowadays? Right.

So well, this guy was apparently good at it. So he was passed with examining this letter. So he examined the Maggie Valley letter and some handwriting examples from all four of the people. So from tattoo Eddie, Kimberly, Joe, and actually, actually, so he found that it was actually tattoo Eddie who wrote the Maggie Valley letter.

And he requested some additional examples in order to make, you know, 200% sure. Yeah. But tattoo Eddie refused to provide any additional criteria examples. So it's sounding to me like he wrote this letter, the friend on Joe.

Oh, yeah. It's a tattoo Eddie's the one who wrote tattoo Eddie letter killed him. And tattoo Eddie's the one who killed them. Yeah, not Joe.

Joe's the barking one. So both the Joe's testimony and the letter were kind of the big factors in the case because we don't have any physical evidence. Yeah. So they then introduced some testimony from Antonio Jones, who was tattoo Eddie's former girlfriend.

She had known him for three and a half years, and they had lived together actually for almost two years. For a year and a half, she worked with tattoo Eddie to improve his writing ability. She testified that the printing on the Maggie Valley letter looked like Eddie's to me. So she then brought in a Valentine's Day card and other like love notes and letters that he'd written to her.

And they were able to kind of tell like between the writing styles and probably the speech and how it was written. Yeah, probably wrote it just like he spoke. Yeah. And she, you know, stated that she was positive that he wrote that letter, like she felt really confident in that.

So tattoo Eddie did not testify the trial. However, Judith Jones, who was Antonio's mother, actually testified for tattoo Eddie. So this mother and daughter are now are like contradicting each other. So the ex-girlfriend is like absolutely wrote the letter 100%.

Now the mother though comes back and says, you know, questions the credibility of her daughter and said that quote, you know, she would tell the truth to the best of her truth, to the best of her knowledge, but her knowledge is colored by a great deal of emotion, to the point that is very doubtful that she would be a reliable witness. Well, I guess Mother's Day is going to be a little awkward for those two. So Mother's Day 88. So the TBI fingerprint expert testified that tattoo Eddie's fingerprints were not found in the motel room.

And the defense, you know, was like to point out, you know, there was no physical evidence that connected. Because they never found the weapons. Right. So he, we are at the sentencing hearing now.

So he's been convicted. He is guilty. They say we're guilty of the crime. Tattoo Eddie.

Tattoo Eddie is guilty of the crime. Sentencing hearing happens. The state introduced some copies of prior judgments of convictions showing that tattoo Eddie had been convicted in Georgia of rape, armed robbery, and aggravated sodomy. And he had been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for his offenses, which had been committed on January 27 of 1976.

So it sounds like he had gotten out early. So tattoo Eddie did end up testifying at sentencing, hearing that he was, you know, kind of just gave his some of his information and all this stuff. So he said, you know, he's very low, IQ, very low functioning. Sounds like, you know, he told him his age.

He said he was born in Maryland, grew up in Asheville, North Carolina, which we've been to several times on this podcast. So that he only went as far as third grade in school. And then he left home and he was 14 years old. So his father is deceased.

His mother lived in Atlanta, Georgia. He testified that he is unable to write without assistance and has limited ability to read. He was 18 years old when he was convicted in Atlanta, Georgia. He admitted to pleading guilty to those charges, but claimed that the victim, fabricate of the charges, engaged in sex willingly.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He served 10 years in jail. He had gotten married at some point when he was young and he had two children, which were in foster care at the time. So he's kind of crazy life.

Yeah, just tattoo Eddie. And he had actually first met Joe Demotica about five years earlier in the Georgia penitentiary. They've been in jail together. And Joe seems to have like all these friends too, which is kind of crazy.

After sentencing in 1988, tattoo Eddie was sentenced to death. But in 2002, he was determined to be mentally unstable and could not be executed. He was sentenced then to three consecutive life sentences. However, in early March 2015, he was actually killed in a prison fight at the Wartburg, Wartburg, sure, Wartburg correctional facility.

So he did not make it out. So he served, he was convicted in 88. So he served from 88 to 2015. So I'm in prison.

I'm in prison. In a prison fight, I wondered if he was stabbed. Karma. Yeah.

Joe received a life sentence as well as Kimberly. Ashley played guilty and hasn't been released. Research shows that Kimberly has also been released has been reported to be living in Nashville. Wow.

So and I'm not 100% sure if I have misgendered Ashley this entire time, because I think, I think she went by that was her chosen name was Ashley. That's you? I'm 99% sure. 99.

Yes. I'm going with that. With a transition of male defeat. Yes.

Yes. That's what I'm going with. That's where I'm at with that because in the court documents here, they use the male name, which I get, but probably for like police, because I'm sure back then like people weren't able to change their names. No.

So in probably in all of the like arrest records and everything, her dead name is probably listed. Yeah. So but that's that. Holy moly.

That is really the truth is one of those two men did it, but we don't really know who to be honest. Yeah. And that's the Rocky Top murders. Wow.

I mean, and there's a lot more to the story of like there's a lot more to the trial. Like it had to be moved. Like it was a huge deal in this community with opening of Valleywood though. It was kind of like a crazy time for a big double murder to be happening.

Like sure. I'm sure there's a lot of publicity panic and everything. So yeah. Yeah.

It was a it was really like and the story I'd never heard. I have never heard of it. You know, I was I was uh, pottying. Pottying?

Yeah. Pottying like a big girl back when that happened. So I don't know. I don't obviously I wouldn't have any recall.

Right. But I don't even you know, since that time I hadn't heard of the story. So thank you for bringing that to you. Is the pepper tree still open?

I don't know. I don't know. But I feel like what an opportunity. You know, in a place we had just talked about how Gatlinburg was a little more classy.

And now we're talking about the pepper tree. Well, the pepper tree was in Knoxville. Oh, okay. Oh, see.

It's just kind of as little as club Knoxville. I'm gonna I'm gonna do a quick google. Oh, Knoxville strip club ordered to shut down permanently. September of 22.

Yeah, local strip club and sports bar has been ordered to shut down an impermanent injunction filed by attorney general Charmaine Allen. Bummer. Is she approved? Uh, I don't know.

Let's take a look at her. Okay. Did she just hate strippers? I don't know.

I don't like a health code violation. Hey, well, it could have been. Let's see what it says here. Uh, business was temporarily closed due to a judge's order, which called it a haven for criminal activity.

Uh, for. Oh, no. Let's see what it says. It just it's yeah.

So I guess it was just a lot of criminal activities that they decided to close it. I mean, for and if you want to see, I do, this is what it looks like. Oh my God. Yeah.

This may have to be our we have to do multiple pictures. Yeah. But now it's wow shut down. Not exactly what I was wanting.

It's not there are those ash trees. Yeah. So okay. Those are where you put your cigarette and like the poll, the post there.

They are cemented into those buckets. Yeah. Oh, okay. Hang on.

It lost some of the there are rules. Hang on. They're rules out in front. Did you read the rules?

Oh, no, I did not. This is a full nude club to drink minimum per person, excluding BYB. So barely you can be quite a big club, but you must purchase your drinks. I mean, that's a horrible right.

Right. No alcohol allowed inside after one a.m. Okay. Okay.

Dress code strictly enforced. Now isn't that funny? We are a full nude club, but please dress code strictly enforced. Yeah.

Check those straps. No cell phones, cameras or videos. Okay. That one's in big, big letters.

I didn't have that in 86. Capitalized letters. Also capitalized letters. No touching the entertainers.

Hands off tattoo, Joe. Yeah. Test you. I'm sorry.

I merged the two of them. It's fine. It's their new name. It's also a firearm and weapons-free environment.