As 2017 quickly comes to an end, these are the top stories that topped your news feeds this year:
► August: Orpheum president says people made threats over decision to not show ‘Gone with the Wind’
The historic theater’s decision to stop showing the 1939 movie because of recent complaints about black stereotypes sparked comments from both sides of the decision.
It gained national attention and left many with mixed feelings.
► September: The Holly Bobo trial
Mark Gwyn, director of TBI, called it “a good day for justice in the state of Tennessee.”
A jury returned a verdict of guilty on all charges against Zach Adams in the kidnapping, rape and fatal shooting of Tennessee nursing student Holly Bobo in 2010.
The trial took nearly two weeks and was watched by many across the nation.
Recently attorneys failed to come to a plea agreement for Dylan Adams. A judge set a new hearing in January.
If attorneys are unable to agree to a deal the trial for Dylan Adams will move forward.
► October: The Jessica Chambers trial
After six long days of arguments and ten hours of jury deliberations, the Chambers family is no closer to closure after the judge declared the case a mistrial.
Quinton Tellis was on trial for murder after 19-year-old Jessica Chambers was found burned alive on a Mississippi road in 2014.
But doubt spread among jurors after rescuers testified that Chambers told them someone named “Eric” or “Derek” was responsible.
► November: Mud Island homicide
Harbor Town neighbors were shaken up after the seemingly random slaying of Susan Grissom at her home.
Kurtrell Williams was charged with murder after he was caught using Grissom’s credit card. Police say he confessed to the killing.
► December: Lorenzen Wright’s murder case broke wide open
The case of Lorenzen Wright, a former Grizzlies star and Memphis native found gunned down in 2010 after a cryptic 911 call, had seemingly gone cold.
That is, until December, when a search of a Mississippi pond turned up a murder weapon that led them to suspect Billy Ray Turner.
Within days, the trail led to Wright’s ex-wife, Sherra Wright-Robinson, who had long denied any involvement with her ex-husband’s death. She and Turner had attended church together in Collierville.
Wright-Robinson is awaiting extradition from California to Memphis for trial.
► December: Tugboat sinks, captain missing on Mississippi River
Tragedy struck on the river as a tugboat sank into 65 feet of water.
After raising the boat, salvage crews found the body of 19-year-old Anquavius Jamison. The body of his stepfather Keith Pigram, captain of the vessel, has not been found.
► December: Removal of Confederate statues
Years of legal wrangling between local officials and the state historical commission over statues of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest and Confederate President Jefferson Davis came to a head.
Two city parks were sold for $1,000 each to a private nonprofit group headed by a county commissioner. Within minutes of a vote by city council, cranes rolled in and removed the statues from their bases. They were trucked to storage at a police facility.
The legal end-run has prompted major backlash from many who say the city shouldn’t erase history.
But activists with Takeemdown901 and their supporters say it’s time for Memphis to stop memorializing the Confederacy.
