| Sources |
- [S23] Atchley Funeral Home, (http://www.atchleyfuneralhome.com/), 30 Sep 2005.
Blanche Ann Ogle Wilkins obituary
- [S112] Census, 1940.
Name: Mary J Wilkins
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 1940
Event Place: Ward 17, Knoxville, Civil District 2, Knox, Tennessee, United States
Sex: Female
Age: 6
Marital Status: Single
Race (Original): White
Race: White
Relationship to Head of Household (Original): Daughter
Relationship to Head of Household: Daughter
Birthplace: Tennessee
Birth Year (Estimated): 1934
Last Place of Residence: Gatlinburg, Sevier, Tennessee
Household Role Sex Age Birthplace
Bill Wilkins Head Male 40 Tennessee
Blanch W Wilkins Wife Female 23 Tennessee
Mary J Wilkins Daughter Female 6 Tennessee
- [S23] Atchley Funeral Home, (http://www.atchleyfuneralhome.com/), 8 May 2010.
Mary Jo Miller
March 24, 1934 - May 08, 2010
Birthplace: Sevierville, Tennessee
Resided In: Strawberry Plains, Tennessee
Visitation: May 13, 2010
Service: May 14, 2010
Cemetery: Laurel Grove Cemetery
Mary Jo Miller, age 76 of Strawberry Plains, passed away suddenly on Saturday, May 8, 2010. She was preceded in death by her daughter Terri Cooper, parents William and Blanche Ogle Wilkins, and sister Judy McDaniel.
Survivors include her:
Brother and sister-in-law: William “Brudgie” and Judith Wilkins of Port Orange, Florida
Grandchildren: Michael Cooper and wife Jennifer of Knoxville, Joe Cooper and wife Lori of Knoxville
Uncle and aunts: Wib and Perna Ogle of Gatlinburg, Margaret Mantooth of Sevierville
Nieces: Tammy McDaniel of Knoxville, Darla Miller and husband Michael of Knoxville
Family and friends will meet 11 AM Friday in Laurel Grove Cemetery for graveside service and interment. The family will receive friends 6-8 PM Thursday at Atchley Funeral Home, Sevierville. (www.atchleyfuneralhome.com)
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 11 May 2010.
Arrest made in Miller murder; neighbors recall sweet, quiet woman
By JEFF FARRELL
Steven Eugene Weaver didn’t make it a day on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Top Ten Most Wanted List.
A Sevier County detective and TBI agent arrested Weaver on Tuesday in North Knoxville. Helping in the arrest were officers from the Knoxville Police Depart-ment. Weaver was taken into custody without incident.
The Sevier County Sheriff’s Office has charged Weaver with first-degree murder in the shooting death of 76-year-old Mary Jo Miller at her home on Day Drive. Miller’s body was found Monday; TBI then added Weaver to the most wanted list.
The murder shocked the quiet, rural neighborhood where Miller lived on a dead-end road.
“I was just blown away,” said Kay Williams. “Our biggest problem we’d had here was a goat coming down and eating our hydrangea.”
Williams was out of state, visiting her daughter for Mother’s Day, when the murder occurred, but she said she’d known Miller since moving to the neighborhood.
“Mary Jo was just a very sweet lady,” she said. “I didn’t see her that often, but we’d trade flower stories when we did (see each other),” she said.
When she first moved to the area, Miller was taking care of her mother. Miller had also been battling cancer, but had maintained her independence, friends and neighbors say.
Neighbors said they believed Weaver knew Miller through her daughter, Terri Cooper, who had recently died. He had acted as a handyman for the woman, helping in her garden and around her home, the neighbors said.
“Even if we’d seen his vehicle there, we wouldn’t have thought too much about it,” said Joan Qualls, who lives on the same street.
Ray and Joan Qualls would take Miller cucumbers and tomatoes, especially after she decided to stop growing her own garden.
Despite giving up gardening, Miller still took care of most of her errands.
“She was a very independent lady,” Ray Qualls said. “She didn’t bother anybody.”
Her grandchildren would check on her occasionally, Joan Qualls noted, and apparently one of them first found her body at the home Friday after coming to check on her when she didn’t answer her phone.
The neighbors said they heard Miller had been shot in the head.
They just don’t understand why anyone, much less a person who knew their neighbor, would have done that to her.
“It’s just senseless,” Ray Qualls said.
jfarrell@themountainpress
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 12 May 2010.
Second arrest in Miller murder; police still searching for one more suspect
By JEFF FARRELL
Sevier County authorities have charged a second man with first-degree murder in the slaying of Mary Jo Miller, who was found shot to death in her home Friday.
Theodore Ratliff, 52, of Knoxville, was arrested in Knoxville on Tuesday along with Steven Weaver, who deputies had already charged with first-degree murder in Miller’s death. At the time, deputies said they wanted to question Ratliff, but had not charged him.
Wednesday morning, they announced Ratliff has been charged with the crime. They are apparently still searching for one other person who was may have been involved in the slaying.
According to the complaints against Ratliff and Weaver, a witness saw them enter Miller’s home on Day Drive on Friday, along with another person.
The witness said the group was in Miller’s house for about 15 minutes, and during that time he or she heard a “pop” from Miller’s home. When they left, one of the people had a bundle under his arm.
Deputies said it appeared a dresser in Miller’s home had been ransacked.
The complaint also notes Miller was found dead in her living room floor with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head and injuries to her neck.
Neighbors said Tuesday that Miller was an independent, friendly woman who enjoyed gardening. She had been battling cancer, and neighbors speculated her killers might have been looking for medication she took.
jfarrell@themountainpress.com
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 20 May 2010.
3rd Miller killing suspect arrested; had just been added to Most Wanted
Shannon Baltimore
By STAN VOIT
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation added the third suspect allegedly responsible for the slaying of an elderly woman in Sevier County to its list of Top Ten Most Wanted fugitives on Thursday — and promptly arrested him hours later.
Shannon Rodney Baltimore, 32, of Knoxville was wanted by the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office for the May 7 first-degree murder of 76-year-old Mary Jo Miller at her home on Day Drive in northern Sevier County. Two other suspects are already jailed on murder charges.
Baltimore and two other men allegedly entered the victim’s home, robbed her and shot her to death.
Baltimore was arrested at 5:32 p.m. in Knoxville near the intersection of Broadway and Magnolia Avenue according to Knoxville Police Department Sgt. Bradley Anders.
Baltimore is described as a 6-foot-2 white male weighing approximately 205 pounds. He has brown hair, brown eyes and numerous tattoos on his chest, back, neck, shoulders and arms. He is considered armed and dangerous and should be approached with extreme caution.
TBI says Baltimore has a criminal history that dates to 1997 and includes arrests for evading arrest, drug charges, robbery, aggravated assault and burglary. He is a convicted felon and has spent time in prison.
Steven Weaver, 56, was captured May 11 in Knoxville along with 52-year-old Theodore Ratliff. Both already have been charged with first-degree murder. Weaver was also wanted for a parole violation from Davidson County.
There were no signs of forced entry at the Miller home, Sheriff’s Detective Jeff McCarter said at the time her body was found, leading investigators to believe Miller knew at least one of the people who entered her home. Neighbors said they believed Weaver knew Miller through her daughter, Terri Cooper, who recently died. He had acted as a handyman for the woman, helping in her garden and around her home, the neighbors said.
According to the complaints filed against Ratliff and Weaver, a witness saw them enter Miller’s home on Day Drive on May 7, along with another person now believed to have been Baltimore.
The witness said the group was in Miller’s house for about 15 minutes, and during that time the witness heard a “pop” from Miller’s home. When they left, one of the people had a bundle under his arm.
Deputies said it appeared a dresser in Miller’s home had been ransacked.
The complaint also notes Miller was found dead in her living room floor with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head and injuries to her neck.
She had been battling cancer, and neighbors speculated her killers might have been looking for medication she took.
svoit@themountainpress.com
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 2 Jun 2010.
In letter to newspaper, murder suspect takes blame for crime
by JEFF FARRELL
Steven Weaver, charged with murder on the May 7 slaying of Mary Jo Miller of Kodak, says he is to blame for the killing and is the one who committed the murder. He is shown at a recent court hearing. (Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press)
SEVIERVILLE — One of the three men charged with the murder of Mary Jo Miller says in a letter that he committed the crime and takes the blame alone.
Steven Eugene Weaver, 56, of Knoxville is charged with first-degree murder in Miller’s slaying. Also charged are Theodore Ratliff and Shannon Rodney Baltimore. All three men are from Knoxville.
In a preliminary hearing for Ratliff, Weaver’s niece, Amy Brown, testified that she drove the three men to Miller’s home, heard a “pop” from the house, and saw them emerge later. She said Ratliff was carrying a purse.
In a letter to The Mountain Press, Weaver attempts to take the blame for the crime.
“I’m writting (sic) this letter to inform the public that they got two other people charge(d) with this same crime when the truth … is no ones the blame but me so I am asking the papper (sic) to reveal the truth to the public,” he wrote.
The letter included a social security number and date of birth for Weaver; officials at the jail confirmed that information matched what they had for him.
In General Sessions Court last week, public defender Amber Haas waived Weaver’s right to a preliminary hearing. That means his charges were bound over to the grand jury without a hearing, in which he would have heard some of the evidence against him and Judge Dwight Stokes would have ruled whether the case should proceed to the grand jury.
Haas did not return calls from The Mountain Press; neither did District Attorney General Jimmy Dunn.
Weaver says in his letter that he had told Haas he wanted to admit his guilt.
Weaver’s niece was the main witness for the state in a preliminary hearing Friday for Ratliff. Her testimony led Stokes to send the charges against Ratliff to a grand jury. Baltimore’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for this Friday.
Weaver maintains in his letter that she was lying about the involvement of the other two men.
“I can’t say why my niece Amy brown is lyeing (sic) but I guess she is just scarred (sic) and don’t know what to say except blame someone else,” Weaver wrote.
He maintains he was solely responsible for the crime.
“I’m the person responsible for (Miller’s) death,” he wrote. “I had my niece drive me to her home where she lived(.) I told my niece Amy Brown that I wanted to go there to borrow some money and when we got there I went inside and was talking to (Miller) bout her lawnmower and we got to argueing (sic) and she made me mad and I hit her in the head and shot her and cut her.” He also says he was the one who took the purse.
During her testimony, Brown said Weaver had asked her to drive him and the other two men to Miller’s house May 7, saying he needed some help to repair Miller’s lawn mower. Brown said she and Weaver had helped Miller with household chores in return for money; they knew her through her late daughter.
While she was driving to Miller’s home on Day Drive in north Sevier County, she said the men began talking about robbing Miller. She said her uncle — Weaver — was the one who told the others that Miller kept a large sum of money at her home, and that Miller likely had recently been to refill a prescription for the powerful painkiller Oxycontin.
She said while she sat in her van with her 3-year-old daughter, all three men went inside the house for some time. At one point, she said, she heard a pop that she acknowledged sounded like a gunshot. When the men emerged, Ratliff was carrying a purse and they were arguing over $50, which she said was all they’d found in the home.
She told Judge Stokes she heard Baltimore saying, “I can’t believe we did this for $50.”
After that, she said, they told her where to drive, including a stop to buy gas and other items and to throw away the purse.
Ratliff has been convicted of murder before; in fact he had only been free for one year after being convicted of the 1976 murder of a woman in Scott County; he was 17 when that crime occurred. He was given a life sentence, but was paroled last year. He had been eligible for parole for 16 years before his release.
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 26 Jan 2011.
Death penalty to be sought for trio; Dunn says circumstances warrant that action in murder of Mary Jo Miller
Ratliff Weaver Baltimore
By JEFF FARRELL
SEVIERVILLE — The three men charged with killing Mary Jo Miller in her home will wait a while longer for motions in their case; they already know they could face the death penalty if convicted.
District Attorney General Jimmy Dunn confirmed Tuesday he will seek the death penalty against Steven Eugene Weaver, Theodore Ratliff and Shannon Rodney Balt-imore.
“I filed a notice on all three for the death penalty,” Dunn said.
The three are charged with killing Miller on May 7 in her home on Day Drive in Kodak. They had been scheduled for motions in the case Tuesday before Circuit Judge Richard Vance, but that was rescheduled after one of the defense attorneys was unable to be in court.
The notice filed by Dunn outlines several aggravated factors that a jury would consider if the men are convicted of first-degree murder, including “that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel in that it involved torture or serious physical abuse beyond that necessary to produce death,” Dunn said.
He would not elaborate on what evidence led him to include that factor.
Other factors include the age and vulnerability of the victim — Miller was 76 when she was killed, and suffered from cancer — as well as previous felony convictions involving violence on the part of the defendants, and the fact that the murder happened during the commission of a robbery.
If a jury convicts the men, the same group of 12 people will decide if those and possibly other aggravating factors apply and will also consider mitigating factors presented by the defense. The jury would be expected to weigh those factors in deciding whether the men should face death for the crime, or life in prison without parole.
Authorities believe the three men went to Miller’s home on Day Drive thinking she had as much as $1,000 in cash and painkillers. A witness — Weaver’s nice, Amy Brown, who drove the trio to Miller’s home but maintained she didn’t know they meant to hurt the woman — said they came out complaining that she only had $50.
Weaver, who knew Miller, was aware she was taking the powerful painkiller Oxycontin as part of her cancer treatment and had recently refilled her prescription, prosecutors said. Testimony on the case so far has not made it clear whether the men got any of the drug when they went to the house.
Ratliff had spent all but the previous year of his adult life in prison for another murder. When he was 17 he was convicted of murdering a woman in Scott County who had been set to testify him in 1976. He was given a life sentence, but was paroled in 2009.
jfarrell@themountainpress.com
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 24 Jun 2011.
Judge rules 2 trials for 3 suspects in 2010 killing of Mary Jo Miller
by JEFF FARRELL
Shannon Baltimore listens as his defense attorney Bob Ogle argues a motion for a separate trail.
Judge Richard Vance is surrounded by attorneys for the defense and prosecutors during a sidebar.
SEVIERVILLE — Two of the three men accused of the home invasion slaying of a 76-year-old woman last year will stand trial together; the third will get a separate trial.
Judge Richard Vance made that ruling in Circuit Court on Thursday after hearing arguments from District Attorney General Jimmy Dunn in favor of consolidating all three and arguments from defense attorneys in favor of keeping all three separate.
Dunn said it would be faster and cheaper to try Shannon Baltimore, Theodore Ratliff and Steven Eugene Weaver together for the May 7, 2010, slaying of Mary Jo Miller, and that the state maintains they committed the crime together. Their attorneys noted the three men are facing the possibility of the death penalty, and that at times have made statements that could be used against the other defendants.
“In a situation where it’s a death penalty case, where a defendant’s life is at stake, I think that takes precedent over judicial economy,” said Joanne Sheldon, attorney for Theodore Ratliff.
Vance decided there would be two trials — one for Ratliff and Weaver, and a separate trial for Baltimore. The district attorney general’s office gets to decide which trial will take place first; Dunn said he will notify the judge and defense attorneys well ahead of Vance’s Nov. 4 deadline.
The judge set the first trial for Dec. 5, although attorneys said they might not be finished with research on possible mitigating factors they would use if their clients are convicted and the case proceeds to sentencing.
Defense attorneys said they were concerned that it would be difficult to present a unified defense when statements by some of the men could be used against the others.
Baltimore’s attorneys have filed a motion to suppress a statement he made to police that public defender Ed Miller said points a finger at Weaver. “Mr. Baltimore’s statement is replete with incriminating (statements) about my client,” he said.
Weaver, whose niece has said in court she drove all three men to and from Miller’s home, sent The Mountain Press a letter saying that he was guilty of the crime and that Baltimore and Ratliff weren’t with him. Attorney Bob Ogle, who represents Baltimore, noted he’d be bringing that up in a trial. “My duty is to point the finger at (Weaver),” he said.
Ratliff had been sentenced to life in prison for the 1976 murder of an elderly woman in her home in Scott County. However, he was eligible for parole and had been released in 2009. Sheldon said he claims he wasn’t present at all. “My client has maintained that he was not there at all,” she said.
Vance set the motion-to-suppress hearing for July 14, after learning that some witnesses were not present and some reports had not been completed for that case.
n jfarrell@themountainpress.com
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
Name Bill Wilkins
Event Type Marriage
Event Date 18 Mar 1935
Event Place Cocke, Tennessee, United States
Gender Male
Age 23
Birth Year (Estimated) 1912
Spouse's Name Blanche Ogle
Spouse's Gender Female
Spouse's Age 21
Spouse's Birth Year (Estimated) 1914
Page 474
"Tennessee, County Marriages, 1790-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-61N9-KBZ?cc=1619127&wc=Q6SB-21W%3A1589264474%2C1589372870 : 22 December 2016), Cocke > Marriage registers, 1931-1935, vol 22-23 > image 684 of 701; citing Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville and county clerk offices from various counties.
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