Putnam County Man Charged With Killing His Mother
By Dwayne Page
A 33 year old Putnam County man has been arrested in the death of his 72 year old mother whose burning body was found Friday afternoon about a mile south of the Putnam County line in DeKalb County.
Gordon Ellis of Crescent Drive, Cookeville is charged with the second degree murder of Yurdamur Akovali, a Turkish descendant, who was a resident of Knox County.
Sheriff Lloyd Emmons says authorities believe the woman was killed at her Knox County home Friday during an argument between the two over some property she has in Oak Ridge. He says Ellis, who was apparently in the process of relocating to Oak Ridge, and his mother had not been getting along for some time. "When the son entered the house they got into a fight. Apparently it started with fists and he knocked his mother down and hit her in the head with a fire extinguisher."
After the woman died, Ellis apparently brought her body to the Austin Bottom area of DeKalb County and set it on fire. Sheriff Emmons says It was apparently just a place he picked out since he lived in Cookeville and was familiar with this area.
A passerby later saw the fire, stopped to investigate, made the grim discovery, and flagged down two Putnam County EMS employees who were in the area conducting a mapping project.
Sheriff Emmons says local investigators got a break in the case Sunday after conferring with Knox County authorities who notified them that Akovali's daughter had reported her missing. "Since we had possession of the body we went ahead and tracked down her dentist who was in Oak Ridge and early Monday I went to Oak Ridge to get her dental records and then I met with a forensic dentist about 1:00 p.m. and he did make a preliminary confirmation it was Mrs. Akovali."
He says Knox County officials picked up Ellis on Monday morning for questioning and during the interview, he allegedly confessed to the crime. "In part of his statement, he said he was going to chop the body up to further conceal the crime but the fire was so hot he was unable to do so."
State authorities had Ellis in custody at one point over the weekend, but didn't know at the time that he was a suspect in a murder. Sheriff Emmons says an officer of the Tennessee Highway Patrol pulled Ellis' vehicle over on a routine traffic stop at mile marker 255 between the Gordonsville and Alexandria exits on Interstate 40 in Smith County and charged him with possession of a schedule VI drug and possession of drug paraphernalia. Another man, 68 year old Emmitt Eugene Randolph of Antioch, who was with Ellis, was charged with possession of a legend drug without a prescription.
Sheriff Emmons says authorities believe Ellis did a lot of driving over the weekend after disposing of the body." We believe once he disposed of the body he went back to Knoxville, then left Knoxville, went to Nashville, and Sunday was stopped in Smith County by the THP. After that traffic stop, Ellis went back to Cookeville and got a ride to Knoxville late Sunday night and authorities picked him up early Monday morning."
...now that's a sorry sob.
By Dwayne Page
A 33 year old Putnam County man has been arrested in the death of his 72 year old mother whose burning body was found Friday afternoon about a mile south of the Putnam County line in DeKalb County.
Gordon Ellis of Crescent Drive, Cookeville is charged with the second degree murder of Yurdamur Akovali, a Turkish descendant, who was a resident of Knox County.
Sheriff Lloyd Emmons says authorities believe the woman was killed at her Knox County home Friday during an argument between the two over some property she has in Oak Ridge. He says Ellis, who was apparently in the process of relocating to Oak Ridge, and his mother had not been getting along for some time. "When the son entered the house they got into a fight. Apparently it started with fists and he knocked his mother down and hit her in the head with a fire extinguisher."
After the woman died, Ellis apparently brought her body to the Austin Bottom area of DeKalb County and set it on fire. Sheriff Emmons says It was apparently just a place he picked out since he lived in Cookeville and was familiar with this area.
A passerby later saw the fire, stopped to investigate, made the grim discovery, and flagged down two Putnam County EMS employees who were in the area conducting a mapping project.
Sheriff Emmons says local investigators got a break in the case Sunday after conferring with Knox County authorities who notified them that Akovali's daughter had reported her missing. "Since we had possession of the body we went ahead and tracked down her dentist who was in Oak Ridge and early Monday I went to Oak Ridge to get her dental records and then I met with a forensic dentist about 1:00 p.m. and he did make a preliminary confirmation it was Mrs. Akovali."
He says Knox County officials picked up Ellis on Monday morning for questioning and during the interview, he allegedly confessed to the crime. "In part of his statement, he said he was going to chop the body up to further conceal the crime but the fire was so hot he was unable to do so."
State authorities had Ellis in custody at one point over the weekend, but didn't know at the time that he was a suspect in a murder. Sheriff Emmons says an officer of the Tennessee Highway Patrol pulled Ellis' vehicle over on a routine traffic stop at mile marker 255 between the Gordonsville and Alexandria exits on Interstate 40 in Smith County and charged him with possession of a schedule VI drug and possession of drug paraphernalia. Another man, 68 year old Emmitt Eugene Randolph of Antioch, who was with Ellis, was charged with possession of a legend drug without a prescription.
Sheriff Emmons says authorities believe Ellis did a lot of driving over the weekend after disposing of the body." We believe once he disposed of the body he went back to Knoxville, then left Knoxville, went to Nashville, and Sunday was stopped in Smith County by the THP. After that traffic stop, Ellis went back to Cookeville and got a ride to Knoxville late Sunday night and authorities picked him up early Monday morning."
...now that's a sorry sob.
