Inset left: Shawn Willis (Anderson County Sheriff”s Department). Inset right: Sandy Willis (Obituary). Background: The heavily obscured residence where Shawn killed Kathy, his mother, in Rocky Top, Tennessee (Google Maps).
A Tennessee man will spend the next three decades behind bars for killing his mother because he was mad about losing phone privileges.
On Monday, Shawn Tyler Willis, 21, pleaded guilty to one count of murder in the second degree for the matricidal shooting.
On April 20, 2020, deputies with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department found Sandy K. Willis deceased in her own bed at her home on Andys Ridge Road in Rocky Top – a tiny town located roughly 26 miles northwest of Knoxville. The woman had been shot – with her own gun – at close range on the left side of her head while she slept.
Immediately after pleading guilty, Shawn Willis was sentenced to 30 years in state prison. Parole is typically a possibility for such a sentence in the Volunteer State – after serving at least 10 years. In the present case, however, the defendant will serve “100%” of his time, according to a press release issued by District Attorney General Dave Clark.
When the defendant committed the crime, he was only 16 years old. In exchange for agreeing to plead guilty, prosecutors reduced the charge from first-degree murder to second-degree.
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On the day in question, Shawn Willis called his girlfriend and told her he discovered his mother lying in bed and covered in blood.
The girlfriend’s father arrived at the residence and checked on Sandy Willis, according to court documents obtained by Knoxville-based NBC affiliate WBIR. Finding her unresponsive, he called law enforcement.
During the investigation, the son, who was the primary suspect, gave “numerous conflicting stories.”
But the subterfuge did not last long.
In May 2020, the killer confessed to a chillingly planned-out slaying during a voluntary interview with Detective Don Scuglia.
“Shawn T. Willis confessed to taking his mother’s pistol from off of her nightstand as she was asleep,” a juvenile court petition filed in the case reads. “Shawn took the pistol downstairs, as to conceal the sound of loading it, then Shawn returned back upstairs to his mother’s room. Shawn walked around the victim’s bed, to the opposite side of the room, positioned himself alongside her bed, and shot her at close range, on the left side of her head, thus causing her death.”
That petition was made public in September 2021 – Shawn Willis turned 18 in August 2021.
During the investigation, authorities determined Shawn Willis shot his mother twice after she came home tired from working a night shift, according to the prosecutor’s office. The killing occurred after the defendant “became upset” because his mother took his cellular phone away from him. The defendant “protested” losing access to his phone, but Sandy Willis eventually just went upstairs and went to sleep.
The victim’s obituary remembers her fondly:
Sandy loved horses, butterflies, flowers, reading books, arts & crafts, sewing but she loved her boys and family most of all.
“This shocking crime demanded justice, and I am happy that it has been resolved as well as the law will allow,” Clark said in a statement. “We remain grateful for the support of this grieving family that has suffered a wound that cannot heal.”
The victim’s family was present in the courtroom during the sentencing hearing and was “pleased” with how the case was resolved, according to the prosecutor’s office. The sentencing in the case “was heavily influenced by restrictions” on punishments for juvenile murderers in Tennessee, the prosecutor added.
