On the morning of October 9, 2023, in East Knoxville near Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Ben Hur Avenue, 47-year-old Trista Larae Denton was found with a gunshot wound after a witness flagged down officers. She was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center and died of her injuries. Witnesses at the scene reported that an unidentified person had shot Denton and fled in a vehicle.

The Knoxville Police Department’s Homicide Unit investigated for months, seeking leads and asking the public to come forward. The motive remained unclear in the early stages and no immediate suspects were identified. In May 2024 a Knox County grand jury indicted 33-year-old Thomas Solomon of Knoxville on second-degree murder in connection with Denton’s death; he was scheduled to appear in court on May 24, 2024.

Does anyone who was in East Knoxville that morning or who has information about the shooting or the vehicle seen fleeing know anything to share?