Four now in custody for Crab Orchard area slayings

By Michael R. Moser / mmoser@crossville-chronicle.com

Two Cumberland County men are dead, the result of a robbery plot gone terribly wrong, and four people are now behind bars with the last suspect arrested in Roane County Monday night. The case is being called a capital case.

Because of that designation, the four in custody can and are being held without bond. Assistant District Attorney Gary McKenzie said Monday following a press conference that no decision has been made on whether the murder will be a death penalty case when it comes to trial. "That decision will be made months down the road," McKenzie said.

The home owner, Albert Keith Patton, 49, of 7503 Hwy. 70 E, was rushed by ambulance to Crab Orchard Elementary School's football field and loaded onto a AirEvac helicopter and airlifted to The University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville where he died after arrival.

His visitor, who authorities said appeared to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, was identified as Robert W. Asher, 62. He was rushed by ambulance to Cumberland Medical Center where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

Charged with two counts each of felony murder and with especially aggravated robbery are the following:

•Amanda Ann Spence, 23, Jacob's Crossing Apts.

•Joshua Hutson, 22, 121 W. Bryn Mawr Circle, Oak Ridge.

•Alexander Carino, 23, 261 Hillcrest Dr., Crossville.

•Cody R. Cofer, 22, 109 East Dr., Kingston.

An affidavit of complaint states that Spence "conspired and planned an armed robbery." Additional information from the affidavits state that the three men broke into the Patton residence and that at least two men were armed.

The trio demanded money and then started going through drawers. The affidavits, filed by Cumberland County Sheriff's Investigator Jeff Slayton, does not say if anything was taken from the residence but the documents make clear that Patton was the target of the robbery attempt and that Asher just happened to have stopped by to visit.

The Chronicle has learned that the two men were horse lovers and that their relationship was based on that.

Police and emergency personnel were dispatched to the home - a single-wide mobile home that had a facade of local rock - that is located just west of Crab Orchard. It is the fourth house on the north side of Hwy. 70 E from the old Daddy's Creek Bar. Officers were alerted of the shootings shortly before 10 p.m.

Sheriff's deputies, troopers and a TWRA officer responded to the scene along with three ambulances. Two helicopters were put on standby because initial 911 reports indicated multiple victims shot multiple times.

First officers on the scene found two men lying on the floor of the residence, both of whom appeared to have been shot multiple times.

Witnesses told officers that three men, dressed in black and wearing masks, had entered the residence demanding money.

A short time later sheriff's deputies took Huston into custody at School Rd. and Hwy. 70 E as the ambulance carrying Patton passed by en route to meet the helicopter. He was wearing all black clothing, including a black hoodie, and was found exiting the woods about a mile from the crime scene.

Later deputies found a black mask in the wooded area that runs along the old railroad track between the shooting scene and where Hutson was taken into custody.

Carino was taken into custody Saturday night by Knoxville Police who had been advised to be on the lookout for the suspect. They turned the suspect over to Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Cumberland County investigators.

It is not known when or how authorities came about taking Spence into custody.

An all-points bulletin was issued by the TBI Monday afternoon for officers to be on the lookout for Cofer. Details of his arrest Monday evening in Roane County were not available.

Once officers arrived on the scene Friday night, the area around the house was sealed off with crime scene tape and the TBI called. Special Agents Brad Nealon, Tommy Callahan and Dan Freel responded to the scene and a request for the TBI's Violent Crime Response Team was made.

The special mobile crime unit arrived on the scene at 5 a.m. and five forensic scientists from the TBI's Nashville lab started the tedious task of gathering evidence. The five included a latent fingerprint expert, a DNA expert, an evidence receiving specialist, a firearms expert and a trace evidence specialist.

For the next several hours the team meticulously pored over every inch of the residence, making notes, bagging evidence and drawing sketches that include measurements of the house.

Everything seized from the scene was taken back to Nashville where for the next several weeks items will be analyzed, tested and reports written.

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