Jury selection in the trial of a woman accused of murder and arson in the 2016 death of a Whitwell, Tennessee, pawn shop owner will begin Monday morning in Marion County.
Angela Denise Kilgore’s trial comes more than two years after the body of 72-year-old Valley Pawn Brokers owner Jerry Ridge was found inside his Whitwell business May 17, 2016, after a fire that was quickly deemed suspicious and soon became a homicide investigation.
Ridge had been shot and stabbed, and Kilgore was a person of interest early in the investigation though she wasn’t named.
Kilgore, 53, was charged in October 2016 with first-degree murder, felony murder, especially aggravated robbery, employing a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony, aggravated arson, theft, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
Circuit Court Judge Don Ash, from Rutherford County, is presiding over the case after Judges Thomas W. Graham, J. Curtis Smith and Justin C. Angel each recused themselves from the case citing conflicts, prosecutors said in April after Kilgore’s trial date was set. Judge Ash was appointed by the Tennessee Supreme Court to oversee the case.