Letalvis Darnell Cobbins

Letalvis Darnell Cobbins was born on December 20, 1982, in the United States. Public records show that he had a troubled background and was entangled with criminal behavior from a relatively young age. In 2003, Cobbins was convicted of third-degree attempted robbery in New York, which marked the beginning of his documented criminal history.

He later relocated to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he lived with his half-brother, Lemaricus Davidson. The two shared a residence at 2316 Chipman Street, the location where the heinous crimes against Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom would later unfold.

Cobbins was known to have associated with individuals who had violent criminal records, including Davidson, George Thomas, and Vanessa Coleman. In the months leading up to the crimes, Cobbins had been unemployed and living off others. Investigators noted no stable employment history or positive community ties during this period. He also had a record of poor conduct while incarcerated, including an assault on a correctional officer prior to his trial.

On the night of January 6, 2007, Channon Christian (21) and her boyfriend Christopher Newsom (23) were carjacked while in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Knoxville, Tennessee. The perpetrators, Letalvis Cobbins, Lemaricus Davidson, George Thomas, and Eric Boyd, forced the couple at gunpoint into Christian’s Toyota 4Runner and drove them to 2316 Chipman Street, the home shared by Davidson and Cobbins.

There, Newsom was separated from Christian and raped, beaten, bound, and shot multiple times. He was then wrapped in a comforter, doused with gasoline, and set on fire near nearby railroad tracks. Although Cobbins was later acquitted of Newsom’s rape, testimony and evidence showed that he facilitated the crime by aiding and abetting the other attackers.

Christian was held captive for up to two days in the Chipman Street house. During this time, she was repeatedly raped orally, vaginally, and anally by Davidson and Cobbins. Evidence collected later confirmed Cobbins' sperm in Christian’s mouth, and his DNA on her clothing. Christian was beaten, suffered extreme internal injuries, and was eventually forced to ingest bleach in an apparent attempt by her attackers to destroy DNA evidence. She was then hogtied, suffocated with a plastic bag, and stuffed—still alive—into a trash can in the kitchen, where she slowly asphyxiated to death.

On January 11, 2007, Cobbins, along with George Thomas and Vanessa Coleman, was arrested in Lebanon, Kentucky. Authorities seized items belonging to Christian, including her purse, makeup bag, and personal effects. Cobbins initially denied involvement, then admitted to being present during the crimes, blaming Davidson and Boyd for the more brutal acts. Despite this, physical evidence directly connected him to the rape and murder of Channon Christian.

During the August 2009 trial, Cobbins was convicted of multiple charges, including first-degree murder, aggravated rape, especially aggravated kidnapping, and robbery. Although the state pursued the death penalty, the jury instead sentenced him on August 26, 2009, to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Cobbins later attempted to appeal his conviction, but those efforts were rejected. In 2011, the original trial judge, Richard Baumgartner, was removed due to judicial misconduct involving drug use during the trial. However, the Tennessee Supreme Court later ruled in 2012 that the trial had not been affected to the extent that it required a retrial, and Cobbins' conviction and sentence were upheld.

He is currently incarcerated at the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tennessee.