Couple tortured woman to death then kept her body in a freezer

Jennifer Paxton was a vulnerable woman who thought a friend was kindly offering her a place to stay - but she was stepping into hell

- WORDS: GAIL SHORTLAND

ennifer Gail Paxton faced plenty of challenges in her life. After being raised by her grandmother, who she regarded as a mother figure, she went down the wrong path. She developed addictions to drugs and alcohol and sometimes turned to prostitution to fund her habits.

She had seven children over a period of nine years but, due to her unstable lifestyle, they were all taken into care. While she stayed in touch with some family members, she lived in homeless camps in Knoxville, Tennessee. But Jennifer was loved by her family and she had a talent for making people laugh with her fun personality. She tried to get her life back on track and accepted food and offers of showers from her loved ones. She would visit her grandmother each month when her social security cheque arrived, but in December 2019, she stopped going.

Her family were worried and put posts on social media asking if anyone had seen her, but there was no trace of her. It wasn’t unusual for Jennifer, 36, to disappear at times, but it was around Christmas — a time when she would normally make contact with family and they would want to see her.

The final sighting

The last time a family member saw Jennifer, she was walking across a carpark near The Pint House bar in Knoxville. They noted she looked thinner. Jennifer would sometimes go into the bar and use the bathroom - and chat to the chef who worked there, Sean Finnegan.

Finnegan, now 57, would joke to colleagues that he had two girlfriends - Becky and Jenny. He was referring to his much younger girlfriend Rebecca Dishman, who was 22 at the time, as well as Jennifer.