View Full Version : Death in the Smokey Mountain National Park
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TN_SMOKIES_DEATH_TNOL-?SITE=WTVF&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Authorities are investigating the death of a man found on Sunday at a campground in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, officials say.
The man, who's name is being withheld pending family notification, appeared to have been stabbed.
He was discovered at the Abrams Creek campground by a camper in the earning morning hours, park spokeswoman Nancy Gray told The Knoxville News Sentinel.
The campground had been closed while investigators collected evidence but was reopened around 3:30 p.m. Sunday.
Authorities aren't confirming the cause of death until an autopsy is performed, Gray said. The man's body was brought to the University of Tennessee forensic lab.
Gray said authorities are questioning a suspect being detained at the Blount County jail and believe alcohol may have been involved in the death.
http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=4931967
Park rangers investigate murder in the Smokies
May 21, 2006
TOWNSEND (WATE) -- Park rangers in Great Smoky Mountain National Park are investigating a murder.
Campers made the disturbing discovery of a body early Sunday in the Abrams Creek area of the Smokies.
Authorities were called out to the remote crime scene at about 4:15 a.m.
The small campground is located about eight curvy miles off the Foothills Parkway. It has 16 campsites and was nearly full at the time of this crime.
It's an area campers come to get away from the outside world, but Sunday morning it was difficult for them to escape the disturbance that turned bloody.
Campers say they heard men fighting and woke up to find a man stabbed to death.
Park spokeswoman Nancy Gray the victim was "a white male, approximately 25 years old with an apparent stab wound."
The campground was shut down for several hours as park officers gathered evidence.
The Blount County Sheriff's Department sent their crime scene van to assist.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations is also involved because the crime took place on federal land.
Authorities have detained one of the campers for questioning. They call him a person of interest, but no charges have been filed yet.
The victim's name will be withheld until next of kin is notified. His body has been sent to the University of Tennessee's forensic laboratory for an autopsy.
Authorities say the victim was not staying at the campground. They believe alcohol was a factor in this crime.
What happened to the "Edit Post" button?
This particular link has a news video associated with the above story..
http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=34535
papa john
05-22-2006, 10:15
What happened to the "Edit Post" button?
It is reserved for donating members.
Frolicking Dinosaurs
05-22-2006, 10:33
Abrams Creek campground is popular with the locals during tourist season because it in a part of the GSMNP that most tourists don't use. The campground has no hook ups for RVs, cold running water, no showers and flush toilets - not the sort of facilities most tourists want. It was more family oriented in the past, but now has become a place to camp and party because TVA has stopped people from doing this on the banks of nearby Chilhowee Lake along Highway 129 last year. Fights, serious assualts and a few deaths had occured in that area prior to the ban on camping there.
The only 'tourists' who frequent Abrams Creek campground are fly-fishermen because it has one of the prettiest trout streams (Abrams Creek) you'll ever see running along one edge of the campground and that stream is easily accessed for many miles both with car access and trail access via two easily hiked trails (Cooper Road and Rabbit Creek).
I do some of my training hikes from trail heads in this area and the mother-lode for trout fishermen is located near backcountry site 17 (http://www.cs.utk.edu/%7Edunigan/gsmnp/mrsid.php?lat=35.6146&lon=-83.9058) off the Little Bottoms trail. Little Bottoms is the wildest trail in the GSMNP - some call it a goat trail.
grrickar
05-22-2006, 21:05
I thought TN State Parks did not allow drinking? I have been at some and the Rangers were really active and checked on people quite often. Maybe this site is so remote that they don't police it?
Stoker53
05-23-2006, 14:22
I thought TN State Parks did not allow drinking? I have been at some and the Rangers were really active and checked on people quite often. Maybe this site is so remote that they don't police it?
Crime was committed in the National Park and not on State land. Not sure what the Fed regs are concerning Alcohol.
It is true that alcohol is not permitted in Tn State Parks but it has been my experience that as long as the campers do not get out of hand ( or piles of empty bottles/cans in plain view ) State Park Rangers do not make an issue out of consuming alcohol in the campgrounds.
Frolicking Dinosaurs
05-23-2006, 14:39
I've camped at this place - the ranger comes by around 7 PM to be sure everyone pays for the site and isn't seen again. It was an altercation between locals:
Man charged in slaying (http://www.thedailytimes.com/sited/story/html/258336)
2006-05-23 - by Jessica Stith of The Daily Times (Maryville, TN)
An Alcoa man was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in the slaying of a Greenback man who was found dead at Abrams Creek Campground early Sunday morning.
William Joseph Moyers Jr., 42, Ash Street, Alcoa, was charged with the second-degree murder of Steven Lynn Davis, Greenback, on Monday, according to a press release from the FBI.
Police say this is the second knife-related incident that Moyers has been involved in since November 2005.
On Nov. 19, 2005, Moyers was charged with aggravated assault in the Nov. 14, 2005, stabbing of William R. Thomas II at Cellar Bar on Alcoa Highway.
Moyers appeared in front of U.S. Magistrate Clifford C. Shirley on Monday for his initial appearance. He was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI press release said.
The arrest was a collective effort of R. Joe Clark, Special Agent in Charge of the Knoxville division of the FBI, Sheriff James Berrong of the Blount County Sheriff's Office and Bill Wright, chief ranger of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Davis was killed in the early morning hours Sunday at Abrams Creek Campground off of Happy Valley Road in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
According to Nancy Gray, spokeswoman for the Park, an altercation occurred in a camp site at Abrams Creek Campground and Davis was found dead with a knife wound in an adjacent camp site.
Gray said Davis was not a camper, but was visiting other campers at the campground and Moyers was a camper. She said it is believed that alcohol was involved in the incident.
Information on the cause of death and other injuries Davis may have sustained are pending an autopsy that was being performed at University of Tennessee Forensic Center, Gray said.
In the November 2005 incident, according to an Alcoa police report, Moyers allegedly stabbed Thomas after an argument at Cellar Bar. Thomas told officers that the argument started when Moyers made offensive comments about law enforcement officers.
Thomas said the dispute escalated when he told Moyers that he was the son of an officer. He said as he walked outside, Moyers attacked him with a knife, stabbing him in the lower abdomen, the report said.
Moyers then got on top of Thomas, put his hand around his throat and held a knife to his throat with his other hand, Thomas reported. He said Moyers then threatened to cut his head off.
The prosecution in the aggravated assault case was pending, but Thomas died before the trial. His death was unrelated to the stabbing.
Moyers is being held without bond and is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court.