Appeals Denied In Lillelid Case

Tuesday, September 26, 2000
by Bobby Rader
News Director

The Tennessee Supreme Court has denied appeal requests by five persons convicted of gunning down a Knox County family in Greene County in 1997.

The state's highest court Monday denied the applications of Jason Bryant, Natasha Cornett, Edward Mullins, Joseph Risner and Crystal Sturgill that their case be reheard. Karen Howell did not petition the court to hear the case again. She and the five others had their sentences of life in prison without parole affirmed in March by the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals.

Vidar and Delphinia Lillelid and their two children were kidnapped at gunpoint from a Greene County reststop off I-81 in April of 1997, taken to a secluded road and shot. The parents and little girl died. Peter Lillelid survived the shooting and is now living with relatives in Sweden.