From District Attorney Russell Johnson – October 3, 2019

District Attorney General Russell Johnson announced that on Thursday his office convicted Kimberly Hopkins (56) of Oregon for the charge of attempted first degree murder in the June 2018 plot to kill her mother.

Hopkins, who was estranged from her adoptive parents, John and Jan Martin (both age 88), arrived unannounced on Father’s Day weekend to visit them at their home in Tellico Village. There Hopkins ordered helium delivered to the house from the parents’ computer, using the mother’s credit card. She also purchased clothing and items that were used as part of her plan. The situation then quickly unraveled after church on Father’s Day when Hopkins took her mother to a back bedroom of the home where she wrapped her mother’s hands with zip-ties and started to place a plastic bag over her head under the pretext of giving her mother a beauty treatment. The mother started to object and began calling for her husband who was in a front room of the house. Mr. Martin, upon discovering the commotion, was able to confront the daughter who quickly exited the house.

Upon their own investigation the Martin’s discovered the containers of helium, gloves, bags and a turkey that the daughter had baked that was possibly laced with medication that the daughter brought with her or found in the parents’ home. They called Loudon County Sheriff Tim Guider’s Office to conduct the investigation and Hopkins was arrested later that evening upon her return to the home. Investigators found some evidence that Hopkins may have determined to make the crime look like an assisted suicide. Hopkins had also asked her father pointed questions about their investments and bank account location upon her arrival at their home.

The case was indicted by the Loudon County Grand Jury in December 2018 as an attempted first degree murder on the mother. Hopkins pled guilty as charged in return for a 15 year prison sentence to serve. She will receive credit for the fifteen months that she has served in the Loudon County Jail since her arrest on Father’s Day 2018.

District Attorney Johnson noted that this was a difficult case for his office to prosecute given the circumstances of an adult daughter with elderly parents who were of differing opinions on how strongly the case should be prosecuted. “We could not please both of the Martins. There was a marked difference of opinion between a desire that she never leave prison versus one of complete forgiveness and mercy. We could appreciate both positions and our collective heart goes out to both Mr. and Mrs. Martin. Thus, we tried to strike a balance by convicting her with an admission of guilt to the crime that we believe she intended to commit, no matter how inept her planning or execution. The situation placed both parents in the most difficult of situations in trying to help advise us as to the determination of their daughter’s fate in this case.”

ADAs Bob Edwards and Jed Bassett assisted DAG Russell Johnson with the prosecution and resolution of this case. LCSO Detectives Patrick Upton and Chris Bowen worked the investigation. Attorney Andrew Thompson represented the defendant.