Appalachian Unsolved WBIR

At first, it appeared real estate entrepreneur Shannon Hercutt died after her Cadillac plunged in August 2009 over a Sevier County, Tennessee cliff.


Several days later, police realized she’d actually been killed and the crash made to look like an accident.


Hercutt’s sister accused their father of hiring someone to kill Shannon. Authorities, however, don’t think that’s true.


Thousands of dollars in reward money remains available for the tip that breaks the case. The killer, however, still walks free.

Bradford Bishop aspired to be a U.S. ambassador. Tormented by doubt, depression and money troubles, investigators believe he ended up killing his own family in a murder mystery that wound up in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.


 
 

Bradford Bishop aspired to be a U.S. ambassador. Tormented by doubt, depression and money troubles, investigators believe he ended up killing his own family in a murder mystery that wound up in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Early Feb. 8, 1990, Dr. Hyram Kitchen left his North Knox County home to meet colleagues for breakfast, but he never made it out of his driveway. He pushed the boundaries in veterinary medicine, but did his intense demeanor get the former dean killed? Almost 3 decades after he was gunned down in his own driveway, investigators are still trying to find out who is responsible for his death.

Widow Frances Worthington, 77, lived a quiet life in her South Knoxville home. Then a killer busted in on New Year’s Eve 1995.


What that person did was horrendous – wrecking her home, bludgeoning her, sprinkling coins and mini chocolates around her body, violating her with a wine bottle.


How her family responded was remarkable. They forgive whoever committed this still-unsolved murder.

The bodies of four women turn up at a notorious lover’s lane. The main suspect – a man on the street nicknamed “The Zoo Man.”


His lawyers said one of his multiple personalities really did it. The prosecution insists that was a farce.


The story of one of East Tennessee’s first serial killers – who authorities say got away with murder.