MARYVILLE, Tenn. — There are endless options for what college courses can cover, and one Maryville College professor is focusing on a subject that's out of the ordinary — the history of murder.
The course was designed to focus on facets of murder, including vigilante justice, the erasure of victims, hate crimes, political assassination, serial killers and manslaughter. It also traces the emergence of the criminal justice system along with trial law strategies.
But the class has taken a turn. Now, Dr. Nancy Locklin-Sofer and her students are piecing together local unsolved murders.
"Just the more I look, the bigger it gets. It's very exciting. My students hang on every development," said Locklin-Sofer.
Her specialty lies in 18th century France studies. Recently, she published a book on a 1718 murder trial.
Her students suggested she dive deeper with a whole class on the history of murder.
"I said, 'You think you would take a class on the history of murder?' and they said 'Yeah," said Dr. Locklin-Sofer.
So she began local research and found a headline that caught her eye from the 1920s.
"A break-in in Maryville where someone was shot and I was trying to create a lecture around the idea that the police at any time in history have to work with what their expertise has shown them to expect," she said.
She decided to dig deeper which included going to the local library o read microfilm. She said she scrolled through the entire roll and saw all the headlines of the time.
There, she found headline after headline about the "Night Marauder." In total, she said there were 40 victims within a 7-year period around Knoxville, Alcoa and Maryville.
With the help of local historians, she found one man was on trial three times in connection with the crimes but was later acquitted.
"Every day I'm learning that it's even bigger than I first thought," she said.
Locklin-Sofer and her students have been working since January piecing everything together about the murders.
Her hope is to turn the work into a larger project, such as a book and possibly helping exonerate others accused of some of the crimes who fit the profile but didn't commit them.
She would also like to bring peace to the families who were connected to the crimes.
"To find out how many people are connected and have been for generations — that's so exciting to me, and I'm picking up a lot of new contacts," she said.
Locklin-Sofer continues to look for new information and connections every day. If you have information about these cases, you can contact her at nancy.locklin@maryvillecollege.edu.