Robert Glen Coe
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Robert Glen Coe (April 15, 1956 – April 19, 2000) was an American murderer who was convicted of the 1979
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...
and murder of eight-year-old Cary Ann Medlin in
Greenfield, Tennessee Greenfield is a city in southwestern Weakley County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,182 at the 2010 census and 2,078 in 2018. Geography Greenfield is located at (36.156875, -88.801290). According to the United States Census Bur ...
. He was executed for the crime in 2000, becoming the first person to be executed in
Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
in forty years.


Early life

Coe was born on April 15, 1956, in
Hickman, Kentucky Hickman is a city in and the county seat of Fulton County, Kentucky, United States. Located on the Mississippi River, the city had a population of 2,365 at the 2020 U.S. census and is classified as a home rule-class city. Hickman is part of the ...
. He grew up in a low-income family and attended Gleason School in Gleason,
Weakley County, Tennessee Weakley County is a county located in the northwest of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, the population was 35,021. Its county seat is Dresden. Its largest city is Martin, the home of the University of Tennessee at Martin. The ...
. Coe's father would regularly get drunk and masturbate in front of Coe and his younger sister. He also forced the pair to watch him engage in sex acts with his oldest daughter.


Kidnapping and murder

On September 1, 1979, Cary Ann Medlin and her stepbrother were riding their bicycles in the neighborhood near their home in
Greenfield, Tennessee Greenfield is a city in southwestern Weakley County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,182 at the 2010 census and 2,078 in 2018. Geography Greenfield is located at (36.156875, -88.801290). According to the United States Census Bur ...
. Robert Coe pulled up next to them and began to talk to them, acting as if he knew Cary's father and needed directions to his house. Cary got into Coe's car to help him, and she was never seen alive again. As soon as she was reported missing, friends and neighbors in the close-knit community began a massive search to locate Cary or the man whose car she was last seen in. The following day, her body was found at the end of a road on the outskirts of town. An autopsy revealed that she had been sexually assaulted. Coe had a long history of drug abuse, mental illness, and indecent exposure. Shortly after the crime, he told family members that he had killed someone, but they initially did not believe him. After hearing about the murdered girl, some of Coe's family members started to help him evade capture by buying him a bus ticket to
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
, but another notified the police. Coe was captured at the bus station.


Confession

Coe was arrested on September 4. He confessed to the murder three days later, giving a detailed description of the crime. Coe confessed that he drove Cary to an isolated spot on the outskirts of town and then, according to his confessional videotape, masturbated while the child watched. It is speculated that he also
molested Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assau ...
and
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...
d her in his
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or somewhere nearby. According to the same taped confession, he then became angry at her when she said to him repeatedly, "
Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...
loves you" after witnessing his sexual act or possibly after his sexual assault. He then decided he was going to murder her. He went around to her side of the car and yanked her out of the car by her throat. He choked the eight-year-old until she turned blue, but he could not strangle her. He then told her to walk down the road, and while he walked behind her, he pulled out a pocketknife and stabbed her in the throat. She fell to the ground, grasping at her throat, and quickly bled to death.


Execution

On April 19, 2000, he was
executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...
, by lethal injection. He became the first person to be executed by the state of
Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
since 1976 when the death penalty was reinstated. Tennessee's last execution before Coe was in 1960.


See also

*
Capital punishment in Tennessee Capital punishment is a legal punishment in Tennessee. Legal process When the prosecution seeks the death penalty, the sentence is decided by the jury and must be unanimous. In case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, a life se ...
* Capital punishment in the United States * List of people executed in Tennessee *
List of people executed in the United States in 2000 This is a list of people executed in the United States in 2000. Eighty-five people were executed in the United States in 2000. Forty of them were in the state of Texas; the most carried out within a single year in Texas state history. Two (Betty L ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coe, Robert Glen 1956 births 1979 murders in the United States 2000 deaths 20th-century American criminals 21st-century executions by Tennessee 21st-century executions of American people American murderers of children American people convicted of rape American people executed for murder Executed people from Kentucky People convicted of murder by Tennessee People executed by Tennessee by lethal injection People from Fulton County, Kentucky