Mom and daughter among victims of Knoxville triple homicide

Officials with the Knoxville Police Department identified the victims in a triple homicide that happened over the weekend.

Police said 29-year-old Juliana White and her mother Mildred Blackwell, 55, were killed in the incident. Barbara Rogers, 57, was also killed, according to KPD. According to KPD, the suspects and victims were known to one another.

KPD said that Desmon Rhea, 24, was taken into custody in connection to the triple homicide on Saturday. Officials said Rhea's charges are pending and he is currently being held without bond.

Police responded to the area of Division Street and Liberty Street after receiving reports of a woman that was possibly dead in the road just before midnight on March 7. White was pronounced dead at the scene from what police say was a gunshot wound to the torso.

The preliminary investigation led police to a home on the 6600 block of Trousdale Road where Blackwell and Rogers were located inside the home. Police said the women appeared to have been killed from gunshot wounds.

One of the victims had been targeted in the past.

On Saturday, Oct. 26, officers responded to the 6700 block of Ellesmere Drive for multiple shots fired. Crews investigated and found the victim, a 29-year-old woman at her residence.

The woman, who wanted to remain anonymous at the time for fear of retaliation, told investigators that she was going home when an unknown suspect fired multiple shots at her vehicle while she was driving towards her home. Officers observed bullet holes in the vehicle and found multiple shell casings in the area.

KPD said the same woman was killed in Saturday's triple homicide, but investigators say they do not suspect the shooting in the past and the recent shootings are linked, however, they haven't ruled out the possibility.

The investigation has been turned over to the District Attorney's office.

Anyone with information relevant to the investigation is asked to call the KPD Crime and Drug Hotline at 865-215-7212 or email propertycrimes@knoxvilletn.gov.