DICKSON, Tenn. (WKRN) — The family of Karie Ann Newberry is asking the community to help keep her killer behind bars.
James Michael Spann pled guilty to shooting Karie five times before setting her body on fire 30 years ago. On September 25 Spann will be up for parole for the third time.
“He stole her from me, I never got to know what she was like,” D.J. Tucker said during a parole hearing in September 2022.
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Two years ago, Tucker faced his mother’s killer for the second time during a Tennessee Board of Parole hearing.
“To Karie’s family I'm truly sorry for my actions and all the pain that I caused,” Spann read during the parole hearing.
Spann was denied parole but granted another parole hearing this September.
“It's hard for me to believe that he has changed,” said Brandy Richardson, Karie’s sister.
It was 30 years ago when Richardson said her sister met up with Spann and never came home.
“He shot her five times, dragged her down a wooded area left her about 24 hours, and went back and set her body on fire,” Richardson said.
At the time, Karie had a five-month-old son, D.J., who continues to fight to keep Spann behind bars.
“It's very difficult. It's like we get some sort of relief then we are right back to where we were having to listen to what he has done over and over,” Tucker said.
“We know eventually he's going to get out, but I feel like the thing is he should serve his full 51 years and that's still not justice. She didn’t have that option if she wanted to live or wanted to die,” Richardson said.
Now, Karie’s family is asking the community to write letters of opposition to the Tennessee Board of Parole to hopefully keep Spann in prison for his full sentence.
“He’s ripped my whole family apart...it’s something you never get over, never,” Richardson said.
The parole hearing is scheduled for September 25 in Nashville. Karie’s family is asking you to write a letter of opposition to victim.witness@tn.gov. You are encouraged to submit documents, along with the offender’s name and TDOC number (00238562).
