Man who confessed to multiple murders in Jackson sentenced to life in prison

June 3, 2024

WBBJ Staff,

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PRESS RELEASE FROM THE OFFICE OF DISTRICT ATTORNEY GENERAL JODY PICKENS:

On September 25, 2019, officers with the Jackson Police Department (“JPD“) responded to a shooting call near the intersection of Middleton and Neff Street in Jackson, Tennessee, where a Nissan Sentra had crashed into the sidewalk and embankment. Officers found an unresponsive victim in the driver’s seat with a gunshot wound to his head. Another victim with similar gunshot wounds fled from the vehicle and was located by police nearby. The second victim survived his injuries and identified twenty–one–year–old Keenan Antonio Murphy of Jackson as the person who shot him and the driver while Murphy was seated in the back of the vehicle. Officers searched the area for a suspect, but Murphy was not located at that time. The driver later succumbed to his injuries.

On September 28, 2019, a concerned local mother filed a missing person report with JPD because her son had not responded to any of her calls or text messages over the past twenty–four (24) hours. A search began for the missing young man, but at the time, the efforts were fruitless. The last person seen with the victim alive was Keenan Murphy as the two of them drove away from 32 Greenview Drive in the victim’s vehicle.

On October 4, 2019, JPD officers responded to a call at 55 Wyndelake Cove in Jackson involving another shooting. They located a white Crown Victoria near the intersection of Fairway Blvd. and Winding Creek. Like the first shooting, officers found a driver, deceased, with a gunshot wound to his head. A second gunshot victim with wounds to his back and hand survived the incident and fled from the scene. The second victim identified Murphy as the person who shot him and the driver from the back of the vehicle. The surviving victim provided a description of Murphy, and officers began to search the area for him.

Officers spotted Murphy later that morning walking near North Highland Avenue and Old Humboldt Road. Murphy was taken into custody wearing clothing matching witness descriptions. Officers recovered a .40 caliber Glock handgun with the slide locked back from Murphy’s person.

Investigators interviewed Murphy, and he admitted to both the September 25th and October 4th shootings, stating that he shot the individuals while seated in the back of the cars as the surviving victims had said. Murphy also confirmed that he was the only person to possess that firearm from September 25 through October 4, 2019. Murphy’s confession was corroborated by a forensic firearms examination of his firearm and the shell casings found at both shootings. The microscopic examination conclusively determined that the weapon had been used during both shootings.

On June 1, 2020, a Madison County Grand Jury indicted Keenan Antonio Murphy in two separate cases for the shootings on September 25 and October 4, 2019. In each case the Grand Jury indicted Murphy for First Degree Murder, Attempted First Degree Murder, Aggravated Assault, and Employing a Firearm During the Commission of a Dangerous Felony.

On August 29, 2021, a concerned Jackson citizen called the police because he discovered a submerged vehicle in a community pond in the Howeston Mill Subdivision. A dive team recovered the vehicle from the pond. Investigators located therein the remains of the young male reported missing by his mother on September 28, 2019. Officers also located multiple .40 caliber shell casings inside the vehicle. A forensic firearms examiner compared the shell casings to Murphy’s weapon and confirmed that they, too, came from the same weapon.

On December 15, 2021, the State of Tennessee, represented by Assistant District Attorneys Bradley Champine and Alfred Earls, tried Keenan Murphy before a jury on the September 2019 murder. Murphy claimed a “diminished capacity” defense at trial, relying on expert testimony to argue that he committed the shooting because he was suffering from a “manic episode” and, therefore, lacked the capacity to premeditate. On December 17, 2021, the jury convicted Murphy on all counts of the indictment. On February 23, 2022, Murphy was sentenced to Life in Prison for the victim who succumbed to his wounds plus twenty–six (26) years to run consecutively for the attempted murder of the second victim.

On February 28, 2022, the Madison County Grand Jury returned a final indictment against Keenan Antonio Murphy, this time for First Degree Murder in the death of the missing male from September 2019.

On May 29, 2024, Keenan Murphy entered a plea to the remaining indictments. Pursuant to the plea agreement, the court sentenced him to Life without the Possibility of Parole and remanded him to the Tennessee Department of Correction for the remainder of his natural life.

“No sentence can make whole or replace what these families have lost,” said District Attorney Jody Pickens. “But we take heart knowing that this killer will never again breathe air as a free man. Thanks to the hard, deliberate work of General Earls, General Champine, and the Jackson Police Department, a killer has been removed from our community for the duration of his life. I thank the Jackson Police Department, and all our law enforcement partners, for the tireless work they did in this case and the work they do every day investigating violent crimes and other serious offenses in our community.”