Robert Glen Coe (April 15, 1956 – April 19, 2000) was an American murderer who was convicted of the 1979 rape and murder of eight-year-old Cary Ann Medlin in Greenfield, Tennessee.[1][2] He was executed for the crime in 2000, becoming the first person to be executed in Tennessee in forty years.[3]
Robert Glen Coe | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 15, 1956 Hickman, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | April 19, 2000 (aged 44) |
| Cause of death | Execution by lethal injection |
| Conviction(s) | First degree murder Aggravated kidnapping Aggravated rape |
| Criminal penalty | Death (May 1981) |
| Details | |
| Victims | Cary Ann Medlin, 8 |
| Date | September 1, 1979 |
Early life
editCoe was born on April 15, 1956, in Hickman, Kentucky. He grew up in a low-income family and attended Gleason School in Gleason, Weakley County, Tennessee. Coe's father would regularly get drunk and masturbate in front of Coe and his younger sister. He also forced the pair to watch him engage in sex acts with his oldest daughter.[4]
Kidnapping and murder
editOn September 1, 1979, Cary Ann Medlin and her stepbrother were riding their bicycles in the neighborhood near their home in Greenfield, Tennessee. Robert Coe pulled up next to them and began to talk to them, acting as if he knew Cary's father and needed directions to his house. Cary got into Coe's car to help him, and she was never seen alive again. As soon as she was reported missing, friends and neighbors in the close-knit community began a massive search to locate Cary or the man whose car she was last seen in. The following day, her body was found at the end of a road on the outskirts of town. An autopsy revealed that she had been sexually assaulted.[5]
Coe had a long history of drug abuse, mental illness, and indecent exposure. Shortly after the crime, he told family members that he had killed someone, but they initially did not believe him. After hearing about the murdered girl, some of Coe's family members started to help him evade capture by buying him a bus ticket to Georgia, but another notified the police.[6] Coe was captured at the bus station.[5]
Confession
editCoe was arrested on September 4. He confessed to the murder three days later, giving a detailed description of the crime. Coe confessed that he drove Cary to an isolated spot on the outskirts of town and then, according to his confessional videotape, masturbated while the child watched. It is speculated that he also molested and raped her in his Ford Gran Torino or somewhere nearby. According to the same taped confession, he then became angry at her when she said to him repeatedly, "Jesus loves you" after witnessing his sexual act or possibly after his sexual assault. He then decided he was going to murder her. He went around to her side of the car and yanked her out of the car by her throat. He choked the eight-year-old until she turned blue, but he could not strangle her. He then told her to walk down the road, and while he walked behind her, he pulled out a pocketknife and stabbed her in the throat. She fell to the ground, grasping at her throat, and quickly bled to death.[5]
Execution
editOn April 19, 2000, he was executed at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee, by lethal injection.[7] He became the first person to be executed by the state of Tennessee since 1976 when the death penalty was reinstated.[5] Tennessee's last execution before Coe was in 1960.[8]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Buser, Lawrence (April 19, 2000). "Tennessee executes Coe". The Commercial Appeal. Archived from the original on March 14, 2008. Retrieved August 17, 2007.
- ^ "Coe v. State, No. 02C01-9606-CR-00200 | Casetext Search + Citator". casetext.com. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
- ^ Yellin, Emily (April 20, 2000). "For Tennessee, First Execution In 40 Years". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 8, 2018. Retrieved September 17, 2021.
- ^ Kleffman, Todd (March 19, 2000). "Portrait of a Killer". The Jackson Sun. Retrieved September 17, 2021.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b c d "Robert Glen Coe #627". Clark County Prosecutor. Retrieved August 17, 2007.
- ^ Hillman, Jacque (March 20, 2000). "Blackwell Recalls Tracking Girl's Killer". The Jackson Sun. Archived from the original on November 11, 2013. Retrieved November 11, 2013.
- ^ "Tennessee Executes Man Who Raped, Killed Child". Los Angeles Times. April 20, 2000. Archived from the original on September 17, 2021. Retrieved September 17, 2021.
- ^ "Tennessee Executions". Tennessee Department of Correction. Retrieved October 25, 2023.