Behind the Headline

Behind the Headline: The Sean Finnegan Case

A Knoxville woman with a history of drug addiction and homelessness thought she found a haven when Sean Finnegan and his girlfriend, Rebecca Dishman, opened up their Oak Ridge home to her in late 2019. It was anything but. Eight months later, police found Jennifer Paxton's body under a bed in the apartment. Investigators would soon learn she had been tortured, strangled to death and placed in a freezer. In this episode of Behind the Headline, we'll hear how the case unfolded through the journalists who covered the crime and trial.

Storm of the Century: The Blizzard of 1993

In March 1993, a historic blizzard hit East Tennessee. In this Behind The Headline, Robin sits down with Todd Howell and Gene Patterson to recall the event.

Behind the Headline: The Execution of Billy Ray Irick

In 1985, a Knoxville family trusted a man they knew to watch their 7-year-old daughter for a short time. That would end in a horrifying crime that called for the death penalty. In this episode of Behind the Headline, we revisit the murder of young Paula Dyer, the decades-long legal fight that followed and the 2018 execution of Billy Ray Irick.

Behind the Headline || House of Horrors: The Joel Guy Jr. Case

Just days after Thanksgiving 2016, officers doing a wellness check made a gruesome discovery inside a home in a quiet West Knox County neighborhood. A couple was found dead and dismembered. Investigators said what they found inside that "house of horrors" was unlike anything they'd ever seen.

Behind the Headline: The Torso Murder

In 1986, a series of grisly discoveries across Knoxville shook the city. Body parts, placed in bags and suitcases, were discovered in different parts of the area. At Mead's Quarry in South Knoxville, a man stumbled across what he thought was part of a mannequin in a trash pile. He soon realized it was no mannequin, but a man's torso. The days that followed led to calls from across the area of similar horrifying discoveries, eventually leading investigators to literally piece together the victim's case and arrest two people who were part of a love triangle that soured. On this episode of Behind the Headline, we look back at how the case unfolded from the eyes of two journalists who covered it, and hear from them about how this was unlike anything they had ever covered before or after.