Karen Howell In Court For Post Conviction Hearing

Tuesday, January 21, 2003
by Bobby Rader News Director

The youngest female in the group of six people found guilty of the 1997 shooting deaths of the Lillelid family on an isolated Greene County road is due back in court today.

Karen Howell will appear before Judge James Beckner in Greene County Criminal Court during a post conviction relief hearing. Howell was 17 when she and the five others kidnapped the Knox County family at an I-81 reststop, then shot Vidar, Delphinia and Tabitha Lillelid to death. Only Peter Lillelid survived. Since the convictions, Judge Beckner has denied similar petitions for Jason Bryant, Natasha Cornett, Edward Dean Mullins, Jo Risner and Crystal Sturgill. All six were sentenced to life without parole.