Tennessee man set to be executed files motion claiming DNA evidence will prove his innocence

Tony Von Carruthers is set to be executed next month for the triple kidnapping and murder, but a new motion filed by the ACLU says crucial DNA evidence from the crime scene does not match with Carruthers and its retesting could prove his innocence.

On March 3, 1994, the bodies of Marcellos “Cello” Anderson, his mother, Delois Anderson, and Frederick Tucker were found buried in a Memphis graveyard underneath a casket. They had been missing for a week after being kidnapped from Delois Anderson’s home.

Subscribe to read this story ad-free

Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.

In the grave with the bodies was a “blanket-like cloth” with blood on it. Fingerprints were left behind at the house. Investigators were led to the grave by a man named Jonathan Montgomery, which led police to his brother, James Montgomery, and Tony Carruthers as suspects.

At trial, the state argued that Carruthers and his two co-defendants, James and Jonathan Montgomery, kidnapped Marcellos Anderson to rob him. Jonathan Montgomery was found hanged in his cell prior to trial. Carruthers and James Montgomery were tried together. Both were found guilty of three counts of first-degree premeditated murder and were sentenced to death in 1996.