Gabriel Boykins
Police said they used Bluestar blood visualizing agent to locate what had apparently been a large pool of blood in the apartment of a man who has since been charged with the murder of Tamara Church and her seven-year-old daughter, Aquarious Church.
Gabriel Boykins, 45, was arrested in Knoxville last Thursday and charged with two counts of criminal homicide and two counts of abuse of a corpse.
The bodies of Ms.
Church and the child were found on July 9 in woods near Greenwood Road.
Police said on May 20 Ulysses Bradley said his girlfriend, Ms. Church, and her daughter were missing. He said she had last been seen at 4:30 p.m. on May 17 driving a white 2004 Honda Odyssey minivan that she had recently bought.
On May 20 at 4:25 p.m., police responded to 1922 Lynnbrook Ave. for a vehicle engulfed in flames. It was a white 2004 Honda Odyssey minivan. It was found that Ms. Church had bought the vehicle on May 15.
It was found there had been no activity on Ms. Church's cell phone since May 17. The last known location of the phone was from 2303 Greenwood Road. That led to the discovery of the bodies in some woods.
The manner of death was ruled as homicide.
On July 9, police located Boykins with another young daughter of Ms. Church at a residence on 6th Avenue Court. That daughter said the last time she saw her mother was around 2 p.m. on May 17 at their residence at 6th Avenue Court. She said she and her sister left in the Honda and that was the last time she ever saw them.
Police said Boykins gave conflicting information. He said he had left town to go to Louisville, Ky., and then to Oklahoma. Police said he had no family or other contacts in those places.
The last day Boykins worked at his longtime job at Pilgrim's Pride was May 15.
Police said they searched 1917 Foust St., Apt., B, which was the last reported location of Ms. Church and her child. Detectives said it was apparent that the apartment had been cleaned and no one had been living there for some time.
The landlord said in the past that Boykins had kept the residence in a disheveled condition.
The other daughter said Ms. Church always slept on a mattress in the front room of the Foust Street unit.
Police said on July 15 video footage was discovered at the area where the burned vehicle was found. It shows a man leaving the scene within minutes of the vehicle being burned. He was walking south in the direction of the Boykins residence on Foust Street.
Police said the man in the video has hair and build consistent with that of Boykins.
Police said in the course of their investigation they found that on Feb. 27, 2016, that Ms. Church had brought the daughter who was later killed to the hospital to be examined for rape. The child was brought back in a few days later saying she had been sexually assaulted. The child said the incidents involved Boykins.