Man sentenced for his mother’s murder, but family upset with verdict
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HARDIN COUNTY, Tenn. — Christopher Knight was sentenced by a judge to 22 years in prison after a jury convicted him of second degree murder of his mother, Peggy Alexander. Beth Waller said her brother is innocent, and is disappointed with the verdict. Waller thought she would be bringing her brother home after the trial. “Someone did this, and it was not Christopher. It was not Chris, and we may never know,” Waller explained. Waller vividly remembers the day her mother, Alexander, was brutally murdered inside her Hardin County home. The next day, Waller’s own brother, Christopher Knight, along with his wife at the time, were arrested for the crime. Waller said it has never been proven Knight really murdered his mother. “There are things that could’ve been tested. There are things that could’ve been looked at, things that could’ve opened the doors, and we’re extremely frustrated,” Waller said. Waller’s family is frustrated that potential DNA under her mother’s fingernails which she could have gotten during a struggle were not tested. She said the only evidence in the home was a bloody t-shirt that did not contain any of her brother’s DNA. Investigators also said Knight used his mother’s bank account that morning, but Waller said that was not uncommon. “It’s hard to believe these things still happen, that in today’s technology, fingernail clippings are taken and not tested in a first degree murder trial of a 71-year-old woman,” Waller said. Now only memories remain of her mother, but Waller said her family is hoping to do something special to honor her. Alexander loved serving others in the Savannah community, and they said she had a special place in her heart for women in need of help, and a dream to build a center for that need. “We found drawings of how she wanted the rooms to be. She knew how many beds she needed, how many lamps she needed. She had a board of directors listed. I’d like to fulfill that dream,” Waller explained. As she wears her mother’s ring, Waller knows Alexander would be proud the family has stayed together through it all, and she will continue to search for answers in her mother’s death.
