A look back at WBBJ’s most-viewed web stories of 2016
JACKSON, Tenn. — The start of a new year offers a time for reflection, and in that spirit we’ve gathered some of 2016’s most-viewed WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News stories on www.wbbjtv.com.
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One of 2016’s most saddening local stories was also one of the year’s earliest.
Noah Chamberlin
When 2-year-old Noah Chamberlin went missing Jan. 14 in Pinson, hundreds of volunteers turned out to face the rain and cold in hopes of bringing him home.
The search came to a heartbreaking conclusion seven days later when searchers found his body Jan. 21 in a clearing less than two miles from the home where he went missing a week before.
Autopsy results later listed hypothermia as the cause of death.
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A late-night traffic accident in March led to a bizarre scene as a car was left hanging from the top of a utility pole in Medina with the driver still inside.
Police later said the car left the roadway, ran up the pole’s guide wire and became snagged at the top, leaving it hanging several feet off the ground.
Fortunately, officers were able to free the driver after about two hours, and she was not seriously injured.
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In what agents called one of the largest prescription drug raids in years, a local pharmacy was raided and shut down in April.
During the four-month undercover sting at the pharmacy in Bells, agents recovered 16 weapons and hundreds of thousands of pills. The head pharmacist and three employees were arrested.
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When two men tried to rob a Lexington liquor store in April, the owner took action and pulled a pistol, firing at the would-be robbers.
The owner’s first-hand description of the ordeal added to this story’s appeal. Fortunately, no one was injured.
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Gunshots erupted outside a Jackson manufacturing plant one August morning, and what could have been a tragic day ended with an arrest and no serious injuries.
Police later said it was a disgruntled employee who fired gunshots into multiple vehicles in a parking lot at the Black & Decker plant on Passmore Lane near the Highway 45 Bypass.
The alleged gunman was later identified and charged with 15 counts of attempted first-degree murder, four counts of aggravated assault, and possession of a weapon during the commission of a dangerous felony.
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Just in time for Halloween, a rash of alleged clown sightings swept the nation, and West Tennessee was not spared the scares.
In late September, two teachers reported a clown sighting near a school playground in Dyersburg, leading the school to go on lockdown as police searched the nearby woods.
The teachers described the clown as wearing a bright red wig, a red nose and having a white face.
Police didn’t find anyone.
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One of the strangest local stories of 2016 came out of Carroll County where a landowner said a mysterious overnight attack left 15 goats dead.
The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office confirmed they are investigating the December attack in the Cedar Grove area that left 15 goats dead and three more fighting for their lives.
The landowner said that while no one saw what attacked the goats, they previously have had problems with wild dogs on the property.
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Click here to vote in our poll and let us know what you consider the 2016 story of the year.
