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The investigation surrounding the murder of Melissa Atkin, in Smyrna, Tennessee, started on December 16, 2007, when Atkin, a 36-year-old mother, was found violently murdered in her home by her parents.
Her former boyfriend, Scott Reynolds, who was also the father of her son, Lucas, was found guilty of her murder and sentenced to life in prison. With emerging court testimonies and police report records, many disturbing details revealed just how brutal the murder was and how the events progressed.
The murder of Melissa Atkin was featured in season 1, episode 5 of The Devil Speaks. The episode aired on August 25, 2018.
5 chilling details about Melissa Atkin's murder
1) Melissa Atkin was found with her hands bound behind her back
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On the morning of December 16, 2007, when Melissa Atkin's parents, Douglas and Linda, entered their daughter's home, they found Melissa lying face down on her bed, her hands tied behind her back with zip ties.
The sheriff's investigation would later determine that Melissa had been restrained before she was killed, and it was presented at the January 2008 hearing, as reported by the Murfreesboro Post.
2) Melissa Atkins was shot execution-style
According to Murfreesboro Post, the autopsy report and police testimony confirmed Melissa Atkins was shot four times in the head at point-blank range while on the bed. Authorities claimed that she was shot execution-style. Apart from that, .32-caliber shell casings were found at the scene.
Detective Ralph Mayercik stated on record that all bullet wounds were concentrated at the back of her head and that there was no sign of any defensive wound or struggle.
The bullets recovered from Melissa's body were identified as vintage .32-caliber ammunition manufactured in 1977. There were matching bullets found in a gun bag inside the vehicle of Eve Barger, Scott Reynolds' girlfriend at the time. Barger's ex-husband had owned the Llama .32-caliber handgun reported as "missing," as per Murfreesboro Post.
3) Melissa Atkins was found partially undressed
According to The Cinemaholic, during the investigation and later confirmed in court proceedings, Melissa was found undressed from the waist down. While no sexual assault was confirmed or charged in the case, that information was in police records and reports, and its inclusion contributed to investigators' belief that the nature of the crime was targeted and staged.
4) Scott Reynolds confessed to the murder
According to The Cinemaholic, Eve Barger testified that Scott Reynolds told her, "I just killed Melissa."
This confession was made without any prompting from news reports or law enforcement contact, and it was key evidence for the prosecution. Furthermore, later, Barger recorded conversations with Reynolds for investigators during which Reynolds again confessed to the killing.
5) No physical evidence directly linked Scott Reynolds to the crime scene
Despite the confession and circumstantial evidence, there was no forensic evidence tying Scott Reynolds to the scene. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation experts had found no fingerprints, gunshot residue, or blood that connected him with the murder.
The defense made this argument during the trial, stating that the authorities had not performed a gunshot residue test on Reynolds at the time and had not collected his clothes or shoes for testing, as reported by Murfreesboro Post.
The Devil Speaks can be streamed on Prime Video.
