Joshua Carr stabbed mother ‘at least 70 times,’ police say
A prosecutor is making a rare bid to hold without bond a Sevier County man accused of fatally stabbing his mother and slashing his grandmother.
Sevier County Assistant District Attorney General Ron Newcomb has filed a motion asking a judge to order Joshua Matthew Carr, 30, to be held without bond.
Defendants are generally entitled to a bond under state law, no matter the severity of the charges, but Newcomb contends Carr is a threat to the public and could face the death penalty.
“[State law] creates an exception to the right to bail in capital offenses where the proof is evident and the presumption great,” Newcomb wrote in his motion.
Carr, 30, is facing charges of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of his mother, Pamela Renee Carr, 56, and aggravated assault in the slashing of his grandmother, Anna Faye Matthews, on Sept. 2.
He was captured in Michigan two days later and was returned to Tennessee for criminal proceedings.
Defense attorney Gregory P. Isaacs on Friday entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of Carr, who appeared at a brief arraignment before Sevier County General Sessions Court Judge Dwight Stokes.
Isaacs and fellow attorney Ashlee Mathis are resisting Newcomb’s no-bond motion. Stokes set a Sept. 23 hearing on the motion.
In the motion, Newcomb revealed that Pam Carr was stabbed “at least 70 times” in the attack.
He wrote that proof of guilt “is substantial.”
“The victim’s mother — the defendant’s grandmother — witnessed the attack,” Newcomb wrote. “The defendant’s grandmother suffered serious bodily injury with a deadly weapon during the attack. The defendant’s attack was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel. … The defendant created a great risk to two more persons other than the victim murdered.”
Stokes on Friday set an Oct. 23 preliminary hearing in the case.
WARRANTS DETAIL ATTACK
Joshua Carr was living with his mother and grandmother at Matthews’ home on Bluff Mountain Road at the time of the attack.
Matthews told Sevier County Sheriff’s Office deputies she was startled awake at 5:45 a.m. Sept. 2 by her daughter’s screams for help.
“On opening the door of her bedroom, [Matthews] found her grandson, Joshua Matthew Carr, with a knife, stabbing his mother,” an arrest warrant stated.
Joshua Carr “swiped” at Matthews with the knife, cutting her on her left forearm and left middle finger, warrants allege. He then “grabbed” Matthews and forced her back into her bedroom, “advising her not to come back out,” warrants allege. He also took her phone, so she couldn’t call for help, warrants allege.
Joshua Carr then returned to his mother’s bedroom and, according to a warrant filed by Sevier County detective Jim Huddleston, “the attacks continued until Pamela Carr died from her injuries.”
Authorities allege he then fled, though it’s not yet clear why, when and by what means he traveled to Michigan.
Pamela Carr worked in the finance department of the city of Sevierville for 20 years. She was mother to Joshua Carr and his sister, Sarah Carr, and grandmother to Sarah Carr’s daughter, Christine. She had been caring for her mother, an ailing uncle and Joshua Carr in the months before her death.
MENTAL HEALTH WOES
Pamela Carr’s sister, Trish Muñasque, told the Knoxville News Sentinel that the family intends to honor Pam’s legacy of service and sacrifice by working to improve mental health services and laws.
“We want to create space to allow for more proactive help, rather than reactive intervention after something tragic occurs,” she said.
“My nephew is not a monster,” she said before his capture in Michigan. “We love him and his mother loved him deeply and he was just as passionate about her. I just want to reiterate that we forgive him and love him and hope he is found safe and can get the help that he needs.”