Trial in 2016 Whitwell murder case starts today

Jury selection in the trial of a woman accused of murder and arson in the 2016 death of a Whitwell, Tennessee, pawn shop owner will begin this morning in Marion County.

Angela Denise Kilgore’s trial comes more than two years after the body of 72-year-old Valley Pawn Brokers owner Jerry Ridge was found inside his Whitwell business May 17, 2016, after a fire that was quickly deemed suspicious and soon became a homicide investigation.

Ridge had been shot and stabbed, and Kilgore was a person of interest early in the investigation though she wasn’t named.

Kilgore, 53, was charged in October 2016 with first-degree murder, felony murder, especially aggravated robbery, employing a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony, aggravated arson, theft, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.

Circuit Court Judge Don Ash, from Rutherford County, is presiding over the case after Judges Thomas W. Graham, J. Curtis Smith and Justin C. Angel each recused themselves from the case citing conflicts, prosecutors said in April after Kilgore’s trial date was set. Judge Ash was appointed by the Tennessee Supreme Court to oversee the case.

Foul play was suspected early on in the fatal blaze that officials said was started with “accelerants.” Whitwell firefighters had to break through a locked door to get inside to extinguish the fire.

An autopsy showed Ridge had been shot and stabbed before his State Route 28 business in Whitwell was set ablaze. Ridge had operated the shop for 17 years.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said Kilgore killed Ridge during a robbery at the business and set fire to it “in an effort to destroy potential evidence in the case.”

The only items missing from the pawn shop were weapons, 12th Judicial District Attorney General Mike Taylor said at the time charges were leveled. Kilgore already had been in Marion County custody on weapons charges when she was charged on the indicted offenses in Ridge’s death.

Kilgore had more than a dozen handguns in her vehicle when she was arrested on a separate warrant for violating terms of her federal release from a previous incarceration, authorities said. The handgun discovery led to a separate state weapons charge before Kilgore was charged in the homicide case.

The guns were later tied to the pawn shop.

Kilgore also has a federal criminal record that was sealed by court order just two days after the killing.

Federal court records show Kilgore pleaded guilty to charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, then on the same day was convicted in a one-day jury trial of attempted bank robbery and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

Records state Kilgore also had a 1990 conviction for aggravated robbery in Marion County.

Jury selection will begin after Marion County Circuit Court convenes at 9 a.m. CDT Monday.