Bio 

Terry Lynn King was born on June 14, 1962. Before the murder of Diana Kay Smith, King’s conduct had already drawn serious criminal allegations. During the sentencing phase of his capital trial, prosecutors presented evidence that King and Sexton had previously been convicted of first-degree felony murder and aggravated kidnapping in another killing that occurred less than a month before Smith’s murder. The State also presented evidence that King had been convicted of assault with intent to commit aggravated kidnapping for an offense committed three days after Smith was killed.

The defense presented evidence that King had a long history of drug and alcohol use. Witnesses testified that he had been a heavy user of drugs and alcohol for years, and expert testimony discussed the possible effects of LSD and Quaaludes on judgment and behavior. This evidence was offered as mitigation during sentencing, but the jury still imposed the death penalty.

Murder Story

On Sunday afternoon, July 31, 1983, Diana Kay Smith left her home to go to a nearby McDonald’s to get food for her family. She did not return home. Her 1979 Camaro was found several days later, on August 4, 1983, off the road in a heavily wooded area near Blaine, Tennessee.

On August 6, 1983, Donna Allen went to the Asbury quarry in Knox County to swim and noticed a strong odor coming from a yellow tarpaulin in the water near the bank. She reported it to law enforcement. Officers found the body of a white female in an advanced state of decomposition. The body was later identified as Diana K. Smith. Medical evidence showed that she died from one or more shots fired into the back of her head from a high-powered weapon.

Investigators focused on Terry King and Randall Sexton after Jerry Childers, an acquaintance of King, reported a conversation with King. Childers testified that King came to his house on August 1, 1983, and asked whether he knew anyone who wanted to buy parts from a 1979 Camaro. According to Childers, King said he had killed the woman who owned the car after she threatened to accuse him of rape. Childers later led investigators to the area near Richland Creek, where officers found bone fragments, hair, bloodstains, and bullet fragments.

King later gave a statement to police. According to the statement summarized by the Tennessee Supreme Court, King and his cousin Don King met Diana Smith near Cherokee Dam on July 31, 1983. King rode with Smith in her car to Don King’s trailer. King later obtained LSD and Quaaludes, and he and Smith took some of the drugs. King, Don King, and another man, Eugene Thornhill, had sex with Smith.

After leaving the trailer with Smith, King drove around with her and later took money from her. According to King’s statement, Smith asked, “Why did you all rape me?” King said that at that point he knew what he was going to do. He forced Smith into the trunk of her car, drove to Randall Sexton’s home, obtained Sexton’s rifle, and then drove to a wooded area near Richland Creek. Sexton followed in another vehicle.

At the wooded area, King made Smith get out of the trunk and lie face down on the ground. He pointed the loaded rifle at her and told her he was not going to kill her. While Sexton was away returning a funnel to a gas station, King shot Smith in the back of the head. Afterward, King and Sexton attempted to hide evidence. They went through Smith’s belongings, burned her identification, tried unsuccessfully to bury the body, and the next morning wrapped the body in a tent, weighted it with cinder blocks, and dumped it in the quarry.

King and Sexton were tried together. The jury convicted King of first-degree murder in the perpetration of a simple kidnapping by confinement and armed robbery. King was sentenced to death for the murder and to 125 years for armed robbery. Sexton received life imprisonment. The Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed King’s conviction and death sentence in 1986, finding that the evidence supported the jury’s verdict and that the death sentence was not arbitrary or disproportionate.

King remained on Tennessee death row for decades. Later litigation continued, including a 2021 Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals decision rejecting his amended postconviction claims. The Tennessee Department of Correction’s current death-row list still identifies Terry King as a death-row offender from Knox County.