Betty Willis (WJHL- TV with permission)

According to investigators, on October 9, the same day that investigators now believe Adam Chrismer was murdered, Howard Hawk Willis and his mother, Emma Hawk, a 70-year-old who also called herself Betty Willis, rented a storage unit in Johnson City.

On October 15, investigators visited the unit and were struck by the overwhelming stench of decaying flesh, according to court records. Armed with a warrant, they followed a trail of maggots inside and, in a pair of plastic containers, four feet long by two feet deep, they found the rotting torso of Adam Chrismer and the mutilated remains of Samantha Leming.

Outside storage unit where victims found (WJHL- TV with permission)

That night, news of the gruesome discovery dominated the local television news broadcast and Betty Willis and her sister, Marie Holmes, like everyone else in town, were glued to their TV.  Authorities won’t say who made the recording, but, according to court papers, they obtained a tape on which Holmes says, “They’ve found the bodies,” according to court papers.

Authorities now believe that Samantha Leming lived three days longer than her young husband. According to court papers, her hands had been bound behind her back and she was shot once in the back of the head. It’s unclear whether she was assaulted or she knew that Chrismer had been executed and mutilated and that she would be next. But investigators say there is evidence that she struggled to break free from her bonds and that her last few moments of life were marked by terror.

Even now, as they prepare their case for trial, authorities still can’t fathom why he told his wife everything. While sitting in a Washington County jail cell waiting for authorities to transport him back to New York for violating his federal bail, they said, Willis summoned his estranged wife. He told her to bring a tape recorder and a pad and pencil, and when she arrived, he told her in detail how he had killed Chrismer and later his young bride.

Marie Hawk Holmes (WJHL- TV with permission)

Investigators allege that when Marie Holmes and Betty Willis learned of the tape, they urged Wilda Willis to destroy it.

But it was too late. Authorities had all the evidence they needed to charge Willis with murder. They also had enough evidence to charge Betty Willis and Marie Holmes with solicitation to tamper with evidence. Betty Willis and Holmes remain free on bail.

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The southern Smokies will no doubt be deep in their first hard freeze when federal authorities in New York sentence Willis on his drug smuggling conviction. Once that’s done, says Joe Crumley, Willis will be brought back to Tennessee to face a possible death penalty for the murders of Adam Chrismer and Samantha Leming-Chrismer.

After that, authorities in Bradley County say they will likely seek to try him for the death of Sam Thomas. They too are likely to seek the death penalty, authorities say. One way or another, they say, there will be justice. It is as inescapable as the coming winter.