On Sunday afternoon, two sweet children – a boy and a girl – were laid to rest in a graveside service attended by their two surviving brothers. These children, the two that are deceased and the two that are surviving, are part of at least five children who were adopted by an evil woman and her husband for the financial benefit they received from the State for adopting them.

The two surviving brothers are now, thankfully, in the care of a wonderful, loving, and caring adoptive mother. The mother’s family members and their friends give the two brothers love that their deceased brother and sister certainly never received.

Early in their lives five children were allowed by the State to be placed ‘in the care’ of a Mr. and Mrs. Gray where the children were forced to endure horrendous circumstances of starvation and torturous confinement.

The two children who were laid to rest Sunday obviously did not survive these conditions.

Thankfully, during Covid, an alert Roane Sheriff’s deputy was able to recognize a child in need and discovered the house where he and his brother were being confined in makeshift ‘cages’ in the basement. An older sister lived upstairs. As a result of this discovery and further investigation, two bodies were discovered, one buried in the barn behind this house in Roane County and then one in a backyard behind a house in Knox County.

The three surviving children were ‘saved’, and the road to their ‘recovery’ began.

Long story short, the biggest hurdle was overcome in May 2024 with the final conviction of both Grays, the ‘adoptive parents’, on life without parole sentences in Roane County and additional life sentences in Knox County on top of the Roane County Life Without Parole sentences. The revelations of the shortfalls in the system of adoption, state ‘assistance’ for adopting, and parental responsibility for accountability and reporting, all came into sharp focus as a result of this prosecution and received attention and scrutiny in the state legislation which brought about changes in the law and the system with the Department of Children’s Services.

What is hopefully the final chapter was the closure that was brought about at the graveside on Sunday with the peaceful service that laid to rest two souls that never had peace here on Earth.

This would not have been possible without the generous, volunteer spirit of so many people, so I would like to publicly thank these folks in this manner:

When we concluded the case convicting the two co-defendants, I immediately turned to some friends for help to do something for the remains of the deceased victims. Without hesitation, the three ‘angels’ that are to me, The McGill Sisters, came to help. They are Rene’ McGill Shultz, Rebecca McGill Willis, and Amy McGill Millsaps, who follow in the community service tradition of their deceased father, Terry McGill. They operate McGill-Click Funeral Home in Loudon, and they own Loudon County Memorial Gardens. They are responsible for volunteering their time, their services, and their money to bring to fruition the wonderful service that was held on Sunday. Three of their associates are: Beth Brakebill who sang and led the attendees in singing, as well as Rev. Brian Courtney who participated in the service, and Roberto Catota who assisted with the procession and graveside. Loudon City Police Department and Loudon County Sheriff’s Department both provided the escort from McGill-Click Funeral Home to Loudon County Memorial Gardens.

The McGill sisters also donated the plot in a special “Angels” section of their cemetery and partnered with Matthews International, who provided the casket for both sets of cremains. Both the McGill Sisters and Matthews International covered the cost of the memorial plague. Lee-Heights Monument provided the service of opening and closing of the grave. Simerly Vault Company donated the vault. West End Florist in Loudon donated floral arrangements.

So many people contributed to making this day special by attending, including Dr. Darinka Milusenic, Chief Medical Examiner of the Regional Forensics Center, and her staff, along with anthropologist Dr. Murry Marks. Their work upon the discovery of the bodies of the two children and their expert analysis was instrumental in providing evidence to prosecute the criminal case.

The 9th Judicial District Child Advocacy Center in Lenoir City provided forensic interviews of the surviving children during the initial investigation, and the CAC Director Chris Evans-Longmire and staff were present at the service.

Knox County District Attorney General Charme Allen was present as well, and her office coordinated with our office with both of us prosecuting the two cases in our respective counties.

Members of our office were present at the service including the prosecution team for this case: Assistant District Attorneys Bob Edwards, Jonathan Edwards, Jason Collver, and Kristin Curtis, along with Victim/Witness Coordinator Tami Bailey. ADA Jonathan Edwards spoke on behalf of both the Knox County office and our office about the courage of both boys and their victim impact statements at the sentencing hearing last year.

It was a blessed day for closure. Rest in Peace, children.