Woman shoots and kills her
kidnapper
Originally ran here
as:
Tennessee man shot to death at truck stop
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
May 29, 2001
Associated Press -- A
Tennessee man was shot to death at a truck stop on Monday, apparently by a
former girlfriend he had kidnapped from her mother's home earlier in the day,
Whitfield County sheriff's officers said.
The woman, identified as Alisha Cox, 38, of
Nashville, had been taken captive after the man broke into the home and shots
were fired, Nashville police said. They said the woman's mother, who wasn't
identified, was later found dead in the home.
The man put the woman in a truck, tied her up
and drove to Whitfield County, where he stopped at the truck stop to pick up
food and beverages, Whitfield County Sheriff Scott Chitwood said.
Cox then freed herself from her bonds and got
out of the truck, carrying a pistol, Chitwood said.
"He confronted her and we believe made an
aggressive move toward her at which time she began shooting," Chitwood
said.
Witnesses said the woman chased the man across
the parking lot, shooting several times.
"She shot him in the side of the
head," said witness Gaylin McDaniels, "and when he hit the ground, she
hesitated, and shot him twice in the back."
Police said Cox apparently acted in
self-defense and charges were pending.
The man was not immediately identified by
police, pending notification of relatives. Officers said he was 31 and lived in
Nashville.
Follow-up: NO CHARGES
Originally ran here
as:
"No charges in killing at truck stop"
By Pat Mahony, Chattanooga
Times Free Press, Dalton Bureau
Wednesday, May 30, 2001
DALTON, Ga. -- A 38-year-old Nashville resident
will not be charged for shooting and killing her ex-boyfriend at a Dalton truck
stop Monday.
"(It's) justifiable homicide. We don't
have any interest in charges. Our case is cleared down here by the death of the
offender," said Detective Brad Corcoran, a 15-year veteran of the homicide
division of the Nashville Police Department.
Ricky Tillman, 31, of Nashville was pronounced
dead about 11:30 a.m. Monday at the Pilot Travel Center off Connector 3. Mr.
Tillman had been shot once in the chest, once in the lower leg and once in the
foot by a Tech 9 mm fired by Alisha Cox of Nashville, police said. Mr. Tillman
and Ms. Cox had dated for two years before breaking up in September.
"It was the first shot (in the chest)
which was the fatal shot. It went through his heart. It's what got him and put
him on the ground," said Whitfield County Coroner Bobbie Dixon.
Ms. Cox was at her mother's Nashville home at
704 Robert Burns Drive about 7 a.m. Monday when Mr. Tillman demanded to see her,
police said.
When she saw him pull into the driveway, Ms.
Cox told her mother, Sylvia Butts, 54, to tell Mr. Tillman she wasn't home.
Ms. Butts went to the front door, closed it
behind her, and confronted him.
Mr. Tillman, who Ms. Cox said had been stalking
her for eight months, fired four shots from the Tech 9 mm handgun, officials
said. One shot struck Ms. Butts in the shoulder and passed through to her heart,
killing her, Detective Corcoran said.
When she heard the shots, Ms. Cox jumped out of
a second-story window onto a concrete driveway, fracturing her back. She
attempted to run to a neighbor's house when Mr. Tillman caught her in the
driveway.
"He put a gun to her back and forced her
into the driver's side of the tractor-trailer truck cab where he tied her up
(with belts at her hands and feet) and put her into the sleeper of the
truck," Detective Corcoran said. "He stopped in Murfreesboro and stole
a trailer. We think that was to disguise the truck."
Mr. Tillman drove to Dalton where Ms. Cox was
reportedly vomiting in the truck. He stopped at the Pilot Service Center at
Connector 3 in Dalton to get something to control the problem, Detective
Corcoran said.
"That's the irony, that he was going to
the truck stop to take care of that," Detective Corcoran said.
After they arrived at the truck stop, Ms. Cox
was able to free herself and left the cab of the truck, said Whitfield County
Sheriff Scott Chitwood.
"When he came out of the store, he made
aggressive moves toward her, and that's when shots were fired," Sheriff
Chitwood said.
E-mail Pat Mahony at pmahony@timesfreepress.com
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