KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — In March 2020, Tylor Trotter said his mother was murdered alongside two other women in their West Knoxville home. The man accused of killing the three, Desmon Rhea, is now facing trial three years later.
Rhea has been held in jail since the killings of Mildred Blackwell, her daughter, Juliana White, and Trotter's mother, Barbara Rogers. The notice filed by Knox County District Attorney General Charme Allen's office shows she is not seeking the death penalty. Instead, if he's convicted, prosecutors will try to convince the jury that he should go to prison for the rest of his life with no chance for parole.
On April 13, the state began calling witnesses in the triple-murder trial. A Knoxville Police Department officer who testified said on March 8, 2020, the night of the murders, Rogers called 911 asking for help. Her call was given low priority, and authorities think she was killed right after making the call. The responding officer, Terry Crowe, said he was called to Division/Liberty Street where White's body was found. Crowe found Rogers' and Blackwell's bodies after sweeping the home, as well White's young daughter alive and a young dog.
Crowe said he recognized White because he had responded to a prowler call she made the night before. He said he found nothing when he responded that night.
Trotter said the phone call notifying him of his mother's death almost caused him to return to habits he'd worked for a decade to break.
"My first thought was, you know, 'You can go back to drinking to relieve yourself of this pain. You can go back to using drugs,'" he said. "But even as I was having those thoughts, I had a supernatural presence come over me and just held me. And it was God holding me, saying, 'I've got you.'"
He said that he spent around 10 years in recovery from substance abuse.
"I was the worst of the worst. I was the person when you pass on the street, you look at them and you can physically see that they appear to be hopeless," he said. "I've maxed out my desperation. I had tried jails, I had tried institutions, counseling, therapy, and medicine. And I said, 'I need help.'"
He said he had applied for a pardon and the Tennessee Board of Parole unanimously recommended it.
"That's the thing on my record that keeps me from going into jails, to carry a message of recovery. That's the thing that stops me. It actually stopped me from trying to get housing when my family was moving," he said.
He said the lessons he learned in recovery helped him handle the news of his mother's death.
"The person that I am is not the things that I did," he said. "I have forgiven the person that killed my mom, and it's because I received forgiveness first."
Rhea is facing charges of felony murder, first-degree murder, aggravated child endangerment, using a gun during a felony and aggravated burglary. His trial is expected to start on Tuesday.
He said anyone who is seeking help or support to stop substance abuse can reach out to Trotter through email at cleancutgroomingservices@gmail.com.