an inch from murder - weblog

« Body Found In Portland Identified As Lynn Moran | Main | Kaitlyn Macedonio: Still No Sign »

November 01, 2005

Sex offender facing murder charge appears in court

Current Story

SEVIERVILLE (WATE.com) Tennessee -- A convicted sex offender charged with first degree murder in the death of his neighbor appeared in court Monday morning.

John Wayne Blair, 49, is charged with murdering Kelly Sellers in April on English Mountain. Her body was found in the woods near her home five days after she first turned up missing.

Blair was in court Monday for a motions hearing. His defense attorney tried to get evidence from a search warrant thrown out, claiming way it was obtained improperly.

The state successfully argued that Blair admitted to police he was with Sellers the day she disappeared.

Seller's mother, Tammy Casson-Peterson, said the 22-year-old was waiting on Blair that day to take her to an appointment.

The judge ruled the search warrant was proper.

The Blair sat calmly in court, even making eye contact with Casson-Peterson.

Casson-Peterson told 6 News she knows in her gut Blair killed her daughter and she knows how he did it.

"What was told to me was that he took a claw hammer and hit her in the head with it, but she didn't die from that. She bled to death," Casson-Peterson said. "Even after he hit her in the head, he left her there and she bled to death."

Blair remains in the Sevier County Jail on a $1 million bond.

His trial date is set for March 8.

*****************************************************

Prior Story

Body of Sevier Co. woman found on English Mtn.

SEVIER COUNTY (WATE) -- Search crews in Sevier County Wednesday found the body of a woman who's been missing for five days. The hunt continues for a man who's a suspect in her death.

Twenty-two-year-old Kelly Sellers was found by an uncle, helping in the search, in the woods on English Mountain Wednesday morning. Officers confirmed her identity Wednesday afternoon.

Her uncles drove from Mississippi to help with the search and her mother, Tammy Casson, also helped.

Sellers was last seen the afternoon of April 22nd by her mother. "She's a good kid. She doesn't deserve to be laying out there. I want her home," she said.

Investigators haven't revealed Sellers' cause of death yet. They're processing the crime scene.

Deputies are also hunting for John Wayne Blair, 49, a suspect in Sellers' disappearance. Residents of English Mountain say Blair confessed to a friend that he killed Sellers.

Blair is a registered sex offender in Florida for sexual battery with a deadly weapon. His last reported address was in Knoxville in 1999.

He's wanted on charges of burglary and theft. He's considered armed and dangerous. Investigators believe he has several hand guns and a weapon known as a "cop killer."

Residents say Blair knows English Mountain very well. The mountain is in Sevier and Cocke Counties. The Cocke County Sheriff's Department is helping Sevier County deputies in the search.

Sellers' mother says Blair was an acquaintance of her daughter's who everyone regarded as her friend.

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=3267004

Posted by Nealus at November 1, 2005 09:34 AM

Comments

Kelly is my cousin I love her so much! she meant more then the world to me I would give my life for her in a heart beat. I miss her so much, what happen to her seems so not real stuff like this is not suppose to happen but in movies. Blair I hope the basterd burns in hell for everything he has done!!! I hate him he took the one person I could go to for anything away from me and my family. Kelly I love you!

Posted by: Ginie Casson at April 11, 2006 11:56 AM

Post a comment