Investigator: Man stabbed wife while she was crawling away

KNOXVILLE — A Knoxville police investigator on Wednesday painted for jurors a chilling image of a mortally wounded woman trying to crawl away from a man she once loved as he repeatedly stabbed her in front of their 2-year-old daughter.

“It was the bloodiest scene I’ve ever been to,” Knoxville Police Department Investigator Michael Booker testified in Knox County Criminal Court.

Booker’s testimony came in the trial of Tyler Enix, who is accused of fatally stabbing his ex-wife, Kimberly McFarland Enix, 47, in front of their daughter, then snatching the child and fleeing in his ex-wife’s car in October 2015.

Tyler Enix contends via his defense team — Knox County Public Defender Mark Stephens and Assistant Public Defender John Halstead — his ex-wife attacked first, brandishing a knife as the pair argued over money.

Halstead told jurors in opening statements Tyler Enix flew into a rage, disarmed his ex-wife and turned the knife on her. He argues the number of stab wounds — considered “overkill” by authorities — is proof Tyler Enix was not a cold-blooded killer but a man pushed over the brink by anger.

RAGE OR PREMEDITATION?

Tyler Enix’s state of mind is key. Among the charges he faces is first-degree murder, defined as a premeditated act free of passion, and if convicted of that charge, the same jury could order him locked away for the rest of his life. His defense team is hoping to convince jurors to reject first-degree murder in favor of a lesser charge with a lesser punishment.

Allen used Booker’s testimony to try to dispel the notion of a raging slasher and replace it with the portrait of a cruel killer cool enough to try to cover his tracks.

Booker said the bedroom where Kimberly Enix’s body was found inside her Templeton Court condominium was awash in blood, but the spatter was low to the ground.

“It led me to believe she was stabbed while she was laying on the ground,” Booker said.

Booker insisted he saw little sign of a struggle.

“The only things that were turned over on a dresser was a flat-screen TV,” he said.

He pointed to the positioning of Kimberly Enix’s body as proof she was crawling away from her ex-husband.

He said one arm was outstretched, with her hand through an open area on the bottom of a piece of furniture.

“It was almost like she was trying to crawl away,” he said.

Booker told jurors there also were signs the killer tried to cover his tracks.

“The carpet looked like it had been wiped [of blood],” he said.

He noted a laundry hamper had been placed on top of a bloody area with very little blood on the clothing inside.

“For the blood to be under [the hamper], all the clothes in there should have been saturated,” he said.

Allen elicited testimony and video evidence showing Tyler Enix withdrew money from his ex-wife’s account after the slaying as he fled Knoxville with the child, Brooklynne Emerie. Authorities believe Brooklynne witnessed her mother’s death, and her father is accused of kidnapping her after the slaying.

COVERED WITH STAB WOUNDS

Knox County Assistant Medical Examiner Dr. Amy Hawes also provided proof of the state’s portrait of a defenseless woman. She testified nearly all of the wounds were inflicted at a sharp downward angle, as if the killer were standing over the victim. She also detailed defensive wounds suggesting Kimberly Enix was unarmed and trying to fend off an attack.

“The defensive wounds were on her left hand and forearm,” she testified.

Hawes said Kimberly Enix’s entire upper body was covered with stab wounds — her throat, upper chest and upper back.

“The depth varied on these stab wounds,” she said. “It could have been something like a steak knife, a pocketknife. It could have been some kind of kitchen knife.”

Tyler Enix was captured in Ohio after authorities issued an Amber Alert for Brooklynne, who was found safe inside the car in which they were traveling. The car belonged to Kimberly Enix.

Stephens and Halstead have not yet said whether Tyler Enix will testify in his own defense. It’s a risky move for the defense. Allen told Judge Steve Sword Wednesday that if Tyler Enix takes to the witness stand he will try to discredit him with his prior history of convictions, including thievery and assaultive behavior.