The deaths of Edward W. Atkins and his daughter Melissa J. Burgess-Smith occurred on the evening of December 24, 2021, at a home on Asheville Highway in Dandridge, Tennessee. Deputies were called about 9:30 p.m. after a report of a shooting and found both victims deceased. Both deaths were ruled homicides. Atkins, 70, sustained a single gunshot wound that entered his left cheek and exited the right side of his neck. His daughter, 43, was shot twice, once in the mid-back and once in the left buttock. Toxicology showed a small amount of alcohol in Atkins’s system and methamphetamine and amphetamine in Burgess-Smith’s.

Investigators with the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation say the last known contact with the victims was a phone call from Edward Atkins’s brother around 4:30 p.m. that day. Neighbors reported no gunshots; surveillance memory cards were collected but did not identify a suspect. No firearm has been recovered; two spent cartridges were found near Burgess-Smith and another on the porch. A $10,000 reward has been offered for information leading to a conviction, and no arrests have been announced.

Were any readers in the Dandridge area that afternoon or evening who noticed unfamiliar vehicles or people near Asheville Highway?