Town note
The origin of the name Cosby is a mystery.
about 0:05:46Spoilers are covered until your reading preferences load.
FILE 521 / 22 August 2024 / 166 MIN / full
We're going all the way to Tennessee today... this is in eastern Tennessee, kind of right up against the Smoky Mountains next to the North Carolina border, Cosby, Tennessee. He later says it is in Cock County, C-O-C-K-E. about 0:04:19
The origin of the name Cosby is a mystery.
about 0:05:46One theory is that the town was named after Jonathan Cosby, an early trapper and distiller in the area.
about 0:05:56Another theory is that the creek and valley were named after Dr. James Cosby, a Revolutionary War veteran and a friend of John Sevier.
about 0:06:16The name appears as early as 1838 in writings; it seems to have been founded as Cosby Creek and later became Cosby.
about 0:06:37The origin of the name Cosby is a mystery.
about 0:05:46One theory is that the town was named after Jonathan Cosby, an early trapper and distiller in the area.
about 0:05:56Another theory is that the creek and valley were named after Dr. James Cosby, a Revolutionary War veteran and a friend of John Sevier.
about 0:06:16The name appears as early as 1838 in writings; it seems to have been founded as Cosby Creek and later became Cosby.
about 0:06:37By 1900 most residents were farmers or lumber mill workers, supplementing their incomes with ginseng and moonshine.
about 0:06:49In the first half of the twentieth century Cosby was known to East Tennesseans as the moonshine capital of the world.
about 0:07:06The explosion of moonshining led to the beginnings of NASCAR.
about 0:07:34Illegal distillers warned of approaching law enforcement by setting off dynamite, and locals would follow revenue agents' cars in a long tailgate.
about 0:07:47A local account describes a still in full operation on a Sunday in sight of Caton's Grove Church.
about 0:08:53Rival moonshining families fought each other over the market, like a moonshine mafia, until liquor became legal and dry counties turned wet.
about 0:09:06Cosby is still known as a moonshine mecca today.
about 0:09:23White 98.8% · Black 0.2% · Asian 0.2%
Ethnicity can overlap race.Property crime
▲ about double
Murder, rape, robbery and assault
▼ just below
Two-bedroom, three-bath house at auction
about 0:14:18"about double"
Comparison: "national average". Direction: above.
As told in 2024 about 0:20:02
"just below"
Comparison: "national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2024 about 0:20:22
"742"
No direction stated.
As told in 2024 about 0:11:55
"over 52%"
Direction: above.
As told in 2024 about 0:12:03
"53.9"
No direction stated.
As told in 2024 about 0:12:05
"0%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2024 about 0:12:17
"98.8%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2024 about 0:12:23
"1%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2024 about 0:12:23
"0.2%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2024 about 0:12:23
"0.2%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2024 about 0:12:23
"almost 25%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2024 about 0:12:43
"none"
No direction stated.
As told in 2024 about 0:12:45
"$45,192"
Comparison: "national average of almost $70,000". No direction stated.
As told in 2024 about 0:12:59
"$223,700"
Comparison: "lower than the national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2024 about 0:13:11
"about $740"
Comparison: "way lower than the national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2024 about 0:13:41
"1,246 square feet, opening bid $1"
No direction stated.
As told in 2024 about 0:14:18
"3,484 square feet, $84,000 plus $84 a month HOA fee"
No direction stated.
As told in 2024 about 0:15:51
"$2,775,000"
No direction stated.
As told in 2024 about 0:16:38
3.0 / 5 · average of 3
“The town has its issues but the positives far outweigh the negatives: year-round colour, artistic one-of-a-kind views and a cosy small-town feeling, with no expensive attractions or tacky overpriced shopping centres like nearby Pigeon Forge; real people live here with real problems.”about 0:09:40
“A rural East Tennessee county that has not grown as much as nearby counties, centred on Newport; living there is like a country song, everyone knows each other, a mix of locals and transplants, families and retirees; activities are outdoors, halfway between Knoxville and Asheville, dining is mostly fast food and most people drive 30 to 60 minutes to work; drug and nonviolent crime are prevalent.”about 0:10:32
“Little access to public workout facilities and fitness is not a big concern to people in the area.”about 0:11:24
The family moved from Michigan to Cleveland, Tennessee, in the early 1970s, and the twins grew up in a comfortable middle-class home but disliked each other from the start, fighting so often that teachers had to pull them apart at school. They dated for about a year and married in 1982.
In 1991 the family moved to Camp Wright Acres, a commercial campground at Highway 321 near the Sevier County line in Cosby, which Aaron's parents, Harry and Cleta Smith, had bought. Aaron managed the campground and was ordained as a minister, running a small church on the site. She often refused to hand the children over for his every-other-weekend visits.
Nobody reported any of it. Strange told her they did not do that there and warned her to be careful who she talked to.
A week or so before the custody hearing a man calling himself Carl Sanders telephoned the Gatlinburg post office from a pay phone in Bismarck, North Dakota, and said an express package containing drugs, addressed to Aaron Smith, was on its way; he gave the tracking number. The package arrived, addressed to Aaron at the Earthquake Museum International, 653 Parkway, Gatlinburg, where he took tickets for the ride. The return address was S. Jones, Peachtree Circle, Atlanta, Georgia, which did not exist; the package had actually been mailed from the Martin Luther King post office in Miami. Postal inspector Russell Fallis posed as a carrier, had Aaron sign for it, watched him open it, and then task force agents swarmed him. Inside were two small bags of cocaine-based powder and a note reading, to Aaron Smith, next time the price goes up.
On July 15, 1997, the custody hearing went ahead and Aaron was granted custody of Brittany and Joshua. They drove through the night to Miami, where they stayed at the Driftwood Motel.
On July 23, 1997, Harry Smith left his home at Camp Wright Acres around 4:20 pm and returned at six to find a shoe on the low rock wall by the walkway and Aaron lying on the walkway, covered in blood and not moving. Harry ran inside to call 911 and found the house ransacked, every drawer pulled out, an air vent cover removed and his .357 Magnum, three watches and other jewellery gone. The chief detective of the Cocke County Sheriff's Department, Robert Caldwell, called in the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. A neighbour, Vernon Brown, had heard three gunshots between 4:30 and 5 pm and seen a white sedan leave the campground in a hurry. The autopsy found three gunshot wounds, two from behind and one from the front, with a single head wound the only immediately lethal one. Investigators found the gun, a spent bullet, bloodstains, a pair of handcuffs on a chair and no usable fingerprints apart from Aaron's.
After a few days she called her aunt and uncle in Michigan, who drove the children back to Tennessee. LaShawn Taylor, Alex's girlfriend in Miami, described the couple's secretive behaviour, and a pawnbroker identified Alex as the man who had pawned a pocket watch, a gold Noah's Ark bracelet, two rings and a Nikon camera, items he collected again on August 7.
While in custody he muttered that the bitches had set him up and that someone was going to die over it. He later admitted going to Tennessee but claimed he only meant to scare Aaron; a plane ticket and the car's mileage contradicted him.
July 23, 1997 / the walkway outside his father's house at Camp Wright Acres, Cosby, Tennessee
As told in the episode, on 22 August 2024.
Accused
Accused
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Public places are marked on the map.
business
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about 1:42:33home
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