Tennessee suspects tortured woman, killed her, stuffed body in freezer, Oak Ridge Police allege
08/18/2020 11:47 am PDT
via WBIR:
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (WBIR) -- Two Tennesseans were arrested for murder and other charges in the torture death of a woman at their residence.
Oak Ridge police officers called to a residence in the 300 block of East Fairview Rd. just after 7:30 p.m. on August 5 found 36-year-old Jennifer Gail Paxton's body. Investigators identified two homicide suspects as Rebecca Dishman, 22, and her boyfriend, Sean Finnegan, 52.
The Oak Ridger reports law-enforcement warrants state the crimes occurred “after Dec. 23, 2019.”
According to police records obtained by 10News, Dishman and Finnegan lured Paxton to the home under the promise of giving her a place to stay.
Oak Ridge Police said once at the residence, Paxton was held against her will, chained to a bed, shackled with a dog collar, and her arms were bound with zip-ties, the Oak Ridger reports.
“Once incapacitated, (Dishman and Finnegan) repeatedly raped the victim before finally using a ligature to strangle the victim and cause her to die,” police stated on the warrant. Police said Paxton was “tortured” and “deprived of food and medical care.”
The Oak Ridger reports police say after killing the woman, the two defendants cut off a portion of at least one of her breasts and her nose, and broke her bones and ligaments to fit her body in a stand-up freezer.
Records show Finnegan also tried to take the body out of the freezer and hide it under a bed while he attempted to clean the freezer of evidence.
Police said Finnegan and Dishman confessed to the aggravated kidnapping, first-degree murder and tampering with evidence charges after being read their rights.
Dishman faces charges of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual battery, first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse. Finnegan faces charges of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated rape, first-degree murder and tampering with evidence. They were held on $1 million each.
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