UPDATE! 4/01/07, 2:08 p.m. ET
A friend in Murfreesboro, Tennessee sent me key information after reading this blog entry that made me realize a section I'd originally posted, titled "Tom Johnson," needed a complete re-write. Essentially, it has to function as a standalone blog entry. So that section has been removed and will be posted with much more reliable info than I had in the original later today...
Richard Grimes laughed and said, "No, Tom wasn't afraid of Sherry."
Memory plays odd tricks on you, especially if your memory is good but your attention span is short. From the conversation I'd first had in 1994 with my brother in law about alleged serial killer Tom Steeples I remembered that Richard joked that Tom, a short, stocky man with a walrus mustache, was afraid of my sister, Sherry Huff, who was a bit of an Amazon.
Turned out I'd confabulated the memory, likely from a lapse of attention during the conversation with Richard and a baby brother's tendency to idealize his formidable elder siblings.
The woman Tom Steeples feared a great deal was Richard's first wife,*Sandra. As imposing as my sister could be, I had heard rumors over the years about Richard's first wife -- that she was a pretty tough lady.
On the phone, recalling the time in his life when he'd worked with and to some degree been friends with a man who was later suspected of some horrifically savage acts, Richard sounded contemplative.
"Yeah... he was scared of Sandra. He knew she woulda put a bullet between his eyes if he tried anything."
It was probably too bad then that Tom had never "tried anything" with Richard Grimes's first wife. That theoretical bullet would have been too good for him.
Nashville, TN, March 7, 1994
Rob and Kelli Phillips had been in Nashville for less than a day. It is unclear from reading news reports published in 1994 whether or not Tom Steeples had gotten to know the couple prior to the night of March 7, but an article published in The San Diego Union-Tribune on May 28, 1994 stated the following: "Authorities subpoenaed telephone records that officials said indicate calls were placed from Steeples business to the motel that day..." -- Emphasis added.
Rob and Kelli somehow found out that night that a vocal contest was being held at the nearby Stagecoach Lounge. A fairly small place, it was still well-known in part because the famed country music group Alabama played the first gig they had in Nashville at the Stagecoach.
And for the Phillipses, who were said to have made the move in part to flee mounting debts on the West Coast, things began so well.
In an interview she gave to the Charleston Post & Courier in June of 2001, Rob's mom, Ann Phillips, told much of what she knew of the back story of that night in March. And of course, she also reminisced about her son...
It seemed like Rob grew up pretty much knowing where he wanted to go with his life. He got up unbidden one Sunday in his home church in South Carolina, all of 5 years old, and serenaded the congregation with a rendition of "Jesus Loves Me." Later, after growing into a rangy, blue-eyed young charmer, he formed The Charleston Band. Among their set pieces there were likely to be a number of cover versions of songs by George Strait, one of Rob's favorite country artists.
Rob Phillips would end many sets with Strait's "I Cross My Heart." Rob often crouched down at the edge of the stage to sing this song, gazing into Kelli's eyes as she watched from the floor.
No other currently available source supported some of what was reported in that Post & Courier article, so it could be that the facts of the case and what Rob Phillips wanted his mother to believe were two different things. It may be that Ann Phillips was the source for the following, though it was not written as a quote in the original piece:
Whatever the case, Tom Steeples was at the Stagecoach Lounge that night. And one thing seems clear: Rob and Kelli Phillips likely had no idea who he really was, what they were dealing with. Tom Steeples was awaiting trial for murder. He'd already jumped bail and for a time absconded to the Cayman Islands, where both he and Tillie Ruth may have had ties to cocaine dealers.
Tom Steeples was also a man who had bragged to a friend about a "dungeon" in the basement of his home. There is even some sketchy evidence that Steeples was already an accomplished killer. A murder and assault that took place a year before Ronald Bingham was killed bore some marked similarities to what happened to Rob and Kelli Phillips, and will be discussed at length later.
Rob Phillips's first performance in Nashville was a winner. He called his mother Ann that night to tell her he'd won the contest and the prize of $100.00. While on the phone with his mom, Rob pulled the handset away so Ann could hear the clamor of music and drunken chatter.
Metro Davidson County Nashville Police have always kept the details of the murders of Rob and Kelli Phillips close to the vest, but the basics are known.
Rob was younger and larger than Steeples, probably stronger, more agile. To a killer in that situation, Rob had to be taken out first. Ann Phillips, after being told of the tragedy, asked one of the detectives, "Who died first?" Apparently, Rob did. Kelli Phillips's husband didn't witness the horrors she experienced.
Kelli, however, had gone to the hotel before Rob. He'd headed out to get some food. Rob was attacked after entering the room and bludgeoned without mercy. Again, the circumstances are not clear, but it sounds like Tom Steeples was with them all along, as there were witness accounts that put a man matching his description with the Phillipses at the Econo-Lodge.
Kelli was then tortured, raped, and finally bludgeoned to death as Rob lay dead near the hotel room door.
Richard Grimes heard, possibly from local newscasts in Nashville, that upon finding the bodies, investigators couldn't even determine the sexes of the victims. Kelli Phillips was identified using dental records, and Rob Phillips by his fingerprints. The families of the victims were never permitted to see them after death.
Cops arrested Tom Steeples on April 8. They had forensic evidence that tied Steeples to the murders, and again, the exact nature of that evidence has never been made public. Whether it was hair, DNA, or something else just isn't known outside of law enforcement.
Tom Steeples managed to kill himself 5 months later, ingesting cocaine that his wife Tillie managed to get to him inside the Davidson County Jail.
Essentially, the investigation into the murders of Ron Bingham and Rob and Kelli Phillips ceased, then. There were no other suspects.
Families have been left with a terrible sense of justice denied ever since. The Davidson County Jail had to make major changes to intake procedures, and anger at Steeples even being out on bail in the first place was expressed at nearly every turn.
Ann Phillips's faith, a faith she'd tried to pass on to her son, seemed shaken by the crime. Speaking to the newspaper in Charleston, Ann said, "Where was [Rob's] guardian angel? (...) Taking a coffee break?"
Tillie Ruth
When last we left Tillie Ruth Steeples, Tom's more "cunning" half, the preacher's daughter from Mississippi had just delivered a tell-tale sewing machine to a hapless employee named Donna Esstman, asking Esstman to keep the appliance in the trunk of her car.
Tom Steeples had just died from a massive overdose of cocaine in the Metro Nashville lockup -- the coke had been stuffed inside a latex glove which had in turn been sewn into the area of a pair of sweatpants where the drawstring was normally threaded. Sweatpants Donna Esstman bought at Tillie Ruth's request.
Nobody doubted what happened, really.
Tillie was charged with 2nd degree murder for Tom's death, but that charge was dropped. In 1997 Tillie Steeples pleaded no contest to drug charges in relation to the same case. She was sentenced to two three-year jail terms.
Tillie Ruth only did about 9 months.
She was paroled in November of 1999, and even though her dead husband was 5 years into the ground, Tillie Ruth Steeples didn't need Tom's psychopathic violence to keep life interesting. The Internet, the Web was just beginning to explode as a money-making machine for many, and Tillie Ruth wanted a bite of the apple.
(Up next: A mysterious attack on a couple in a hotel in Georgia by a man who called himself "Tom..." Two years before the deaths of Rob and Kelli Phillips, did Tom Steeples do a practice run? Then: Tillie Ruth meets another psychopath and they take their game to the Web...)
A friend in Murfreesboro, Tennessee sent me key information after reading this blog entry that made me realize a section I'd originally posted, titled "Tom Johnson," needed a complete re-write. Essentially, it has to function as a standalone blog entry. So that section has been removed and will be posted with much more reliable info than I had in the original later today...
(To allow for what I hope is a more smoothly-flowing narrative, I elected to write this blog entry with the assumption that readers have read parts one and two. You should be able to follow along anyway, but reading the first installments of this story is strongly recommended. Also -- any name in this entry marked with an asterisk [*] is a pseudonym. ~ Steve)"Between the eyes..."
Richard Grimes laughed and said, "No, Tom wasn't afraid of Sherry."
Memory plays odd tricks on you, especially if your memory is good but your attention span is short. From the conversation I'd first had in 1994 with my brother in law about alleged serial killer Tom Steeples I remembered that Richard joked that Tom, a short, stocky man with a walrus mustache, was afraid of my sister, Sherry Huff, who was a bit of an Amazon.
Turned out I'd confabulated the memory, likely from a lapse of attention during the conversation with Richard and a baby brother's tendency to idealize his formidable elder siblings.
The woman Tom Steeples feared a great deal was Richard's first wife,*Sandra. As imposing as my sister could be, I had heard rumors over the years about Richard's first wife -- that she was a pretty tough lady.
On the phone, recalling the time in his life when he'd worked with and to some degree been friends with a man who was later suspected of some horrifically savage acts, Richard sounded contemplative.
"Yeah... he was scared of Sandra. He knew she woulda put a bullet between his eyes if he tried anything."
It was probably too bad then that Tom had never "tried anything" with Richard Grimes's first wife. That theoretical bullet would have been too good for him.
Nashville, TN, March 7, 1994
Rob and Kelli Phillips had been in Nashville for less than a day. It is unclear from reading news reports published in 1994 whether or not Tom Steeples had gotten to know the couple prior to the night of March 7, but an article published in The San Diego Union-Tribune on May 28, 1994 stated the following: "Authorities subpoenaed telephone records that officials said indicate calls were placed from Steeples business to the motel that day..." -- Emphasis added.
Rob and Kelli somehow found out that night that a vocal contest was being held at the nearby Stagecoach Lounge. A fairly small place, it was still well-known in part because the famed country music group Alabama played the first gig they had in Nashville at the Stagecoach.
And for the Phillipses, who were said to have made the move in part to flee mounting debts on the West Coast, things began so well.
In an interview she gave to the Charleston Post & Courier in June of 2001, Rob's mom, Ann Phillips, told much of what she knew of the back story of that night in March. And of course, she also reminisced about her son...
It seemed like Rob grew up pretty much knowing where he wanted to go with his life. He got up unbidden one Sunday in his home church in South Carolina, all of 5 years old, and serenaded the congregation with a rendition of "Jesus Loves Me." Later, after growing into a rangy, blue-eyed young charmer, he formed The Charleston Band. Among their set pieces there were likely to be a number of cover versions of songs by George Strait, one of Rob's favorite country artists.
Rob Phillips would end many sets with Strait's "I Cross My Heart." Rob often crouched down at the edge of the stage to sing this song, gazing into Kelli's eyes as she watched from the floor.
No other currently available source supported some of what was reported in that Post & Courier article, so it could be that the facts of the case and what Rob Phillips wanted his mother to believe were two different things. It may be that Ann Phillips was the source for the following, though it was not written as a quote in the original piece:
At 24, [Rob's] musical career had been building up to that March 1994 day when he and Kelli drove to the country music capital to meet a producer and discuss a recording contract...Was Tom Steeples masquerading as a music producer? The supposed meeting Rob was to have with a record producer combined with the evidence of calls from Computer Forms and Supplies to the Econo-Lodge where the couple was staying -- if Steeples met the Phillipses that night at the Stagecoach, when did he have time to go back to his business and then call them?
Whatever the case, Tom Steeples was at the Stagecoach Lounge that night. And one thing seems clear: Rob and Kelli Phillips likely had no idea who he really was, what they were dealing with. Tom Steeples was awaiting trial for murder. He'd already jumped bail and for a time absconded to the Cayman Islands, where both he and Tillie Ruth may have had ties to cocaine dealers.
Tom Steeples was also a man who had bragged to a friend about a "dungeon" in the basement of his home. There is even some sketchy evidence that Steeples was already an accomplished killer. A murder and assault that took place a year before Ronald Bingham was killed bore some marked similarities to what happened to Rob and Kelli Phillips, and will be discussed at length later.
Rob Phillips's first performance in Nashville was a winner. He called his mother Ann that night to tell her he'd won the contest and the prize of $100.00. While on the phone with his mom, Rob pulled the handset away so Ann could hear the clamor of music and drunken chatter.
Metro Davidson County Nashville Police have always kept the details of the murders of Rob and Kelli Phillips close to the vest, but the basics are known.
Rob was younger and larger than Steeples, probably stronger, more agile. To a killer in that situation, Rob had to be taken out first. Ann Phillips, after being told of the tragedy, asked one of the detectives, "Who died first?" Apparently, Rob did. Kelli Phillips's husband didn't witness the horrors she experienced.
Kelli, however, had gone to the hotel before Rob. He'd headed out to get some food. Rob was attacked after entering the room and bludgeoned without mercy. Again, the circumstances are not clear, but it sounds like Tom Steeples was with them all along, as there were witness accounts that put a man matching his description with the Phillipses at the Econo-Lodge.
Kelli was then tortured, raped, and finally bludgeoned to death as Rob lay dead near the hotel room door.
Richard Grimes heard, possibly from local newscasts in Nashville, that upon finding the bodies, investigators couldn't even determine the sexes of the victims. Kelli Phillips was identified using dental records, and Rob Phillips by his fingerprints. The families of the victims were never permitted to see them after death.
Cops arrested Tom Steeples on April 8. They had forensic evidence that tied Steeples to the murders, and again, the exact nature of that evidence has never been made public. Whether it was hair, DNA, or something else just isn't known outside of law enforcement.
Tom Steeples managed to kill himself 5 months later, ingesting cocaine that his wife Tillie managed to get to him inside the Davidson County Jail.
Essentially, the investigation into the murders of Ron Bingham and Rob and Kelli Phillips ceased, then. There were no other suspects.
Families have been left with a terrible sense of justice denied ever since. The Davidson County Jail had to make major changes to intake procedures, and anger at Steeples even being out on bail in the first place was expressed at nearly every turn.
Ann Phillips's faith, a faith she'd tried to pass on to her son, seemed shaken by the crime. Speaking to the newspaper in Charleston, Ann said, "Where was [Rob's] guardian angel? (...) Taking a coffee break?"
Tillie Ruth
When last we left Tillie Ruth Steeples, Tom's more "cunning" half, the preacher's daughter from Mississippi had just delivered a tell-tale sewing machine to a hapless employee named Donna Esstman, asking Esstman to keep the appliance in the trunk of her car.
Tom Steeples had just died from a massive overdose of cocaine in the Metro Nashville lockup -- the coke had been stuffed inside a latex glove which had in turn been sewn into the area of a pair of sweatpants where the drawstring was normally threaded. Sweatpants Donna Esstman bought at Tillie Ruth's request.
Nobody doubted what happened, really.
Tillie was charged with 2nd degree murder for Tom's death, but that charge was dropped. In 1997 Tillie Steeples pleaded no contest to drug charges in relation to the same case. She was sentenced to two three-year jail terms.
Tillie Ruth only did about 9 months.
She was paroled in November of 1999, and even though her dead husband was 5 years into the ground, Tillie Ruth Steeples didn't need Tom's psychopathic violence to keep life interesting. The Internet, the Web was just beginning to explode as a money-making machine for many, and Tillie Ruth wanted a bite of the apple.
(Up next: A mysterious attack on a couple in a hotel in Georgia by a man who called himself "Tom..." Two years before the deaths of Rob and Kelli Phillips, did Tom Steeples do a practice run? Then: Tillie Ruth meets another psychopath and they take their game to the Web...)
