Robert Glen Coe

Robert Glen Coe
Robert Glen Coe
Born	April 15, 1956; First degree murder; Aggravated kidnapping; Aggravated rape
Criminal penalty	Death (May 1981)
Details
Victims	Cary Ann Medlin, 8
Date	September 1, 1979

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]

Early life

Coe 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

On 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

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

Coe 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,

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

On 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]

References

^ 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.

Preceded by William Tines – 1960	Executions carried out in Tennessee	Succeeded by Sedley Alley – 2006
Preceded by Robert Tarver Jr. – Alabama – April 14, 2000	Executions carried out in the United States	Succeeded by Ronald Boyd – Oklahoma – April 27, 2000

[1] Buser, Lawrence (April 19, 2000). "Tennessee executes Coe". The Commercial Appeal. Archived from the original on March 14, 2008. Retrieved August 17, 2007.

[2] "Coe v. State, No. 02C01-9606-CR-00200 | Casetext Search + Citator". casetext.com. Retrieved 2022-02-14.

[3] 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.

[4] Kleffman, Todd (March 19, 2000). "Portrait of a Killer". The Jackson Sun. Retrieved September 17, 2021.^{[permanent dead link]}

[cp-5] "Robert Glen Coe #627". Clark County Prosecutor. Retrieved August 17, 2007.

[6] 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.

[7] "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.

[8] "Tennessee Executions". Tennessee Department of Correction. Retrieved October 25, 2023.

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Early life

Kidnapping and murder

Confession

Execution

See also

References