Thomas Huskey ¨The Zoo Man, ¨ a serial killer who got away with murder but is still in prison

As well as stated that he wanted to ruin Thomas's life because he disliked him. Thomas claimed to have Disassociative Identity disorder. He had no memory of murdering the women but did remember waking up and having periods of not remembering what happened, as well as he would have a terrible headache.

February 27, 1991, a woman called the Knoxville Police Department and claimed that she had been kidnapped by a man driving a blue Buick Lesabre; he took her to a secluded area, tied her up, assaulted her, robbed her, and left her to die. Luckily the woman was able to escape and call for help. Investigator Tom Presley was assigned to investigate the case.

While investigating the case, he had the woman show him exactly where she had been taken, and the woman brought him to a secluded area in the woods. She took him to a site called Cahaba Lane, located off Hwy 40; it was a dead-end road leading to an opening in the woods.

The spot was popular with prostitutes as a hidden spot to bring their clients. The area was full of trash, with a few beds in the clearing.

When they showed up at the area, they noticed the same blue Buick Lesabre parked and discovered the man who had left her in the woods, Thomas Huskey. He was there with another woman, caught in the act.

The officer arrested Huskey and charged him with rape and robbery, and he was put in jail to await his sentencing. Fortunately for Thomas, the first woman decided not to press charges, and the second woman never showed up to court, so the charges were dropped, and Huskey was released.

However, Huskey was not out of jail for long, and another charge was filed against him for solicitation. However, he was charged and released yet again. However, his luck would soon run out, and another order was filed against him. Except this time, Huskey did not show up for court to get his fine, so a Capias Warrant was issued for his arrest.

So how did Thomas Huskey get the nickname, Zoo Man?

Huskey's father was a well-known elephant trainer at the Knoxville Zoo, and he hired Thomas to clean up after the elephants. Also, he was known among the prostitute as Zoo Man because he would often bring them back to a barn in the zoo and was a regular, giving him the name zoo man.

Thomas also had a bad reputation amongst the prostitutes because he enjoyed tieing them up, and most would avoid him. Unfortunately, trouble for Thomas just began.

In October 1992, a hunter came across a body in the cleaning on Cahaba Lane. He found her inside a doghouse, naked, and she appeared to have been beaten, her hands tied with orange twine, and she looked as if she had been strangled.

One of the detectives recognized the woman as Patricia Rose Anderson, 32, a drug addict and prostitute recently reported missing by her boyfriend. During this time, Detective Presley, from the previous case with Huskey, had called and filled them in on what he had previously worked on in that area.

He thought it sounded similar, except his victims were still alive and did identify their attacker as Thomas Huskey. It gave the detectives a lead, and they looked into Huskey. The lead detective was Det. Upchurch, and when he began investigating, he found the Capias Warrants and spoke with the police over in Pigeon Forge, and they went to Huskey's parent's house where he was living and arrested him.

While the detectives were there, they went to Huskey's room with him. At one point, they saw women's jewelry and orange twine. The parents permitted the detectives to search the house but had to get a warrant to search Thomas's room.

So the detectives went to Judge Bruce Baker and obtained a warrant and took the jewelry and twine into evidence, and Patty's boyfriend did determine some of the jewelry was hers. Except Thomas was only arrested for the Capias warrant, not murder.

The detectives had to wait on a ruling, and during that time, Thomas was sent to jail for 30 days for the solicitation charge and failure to appear in court. At this point, Kyle makes his first appearance, as when Thomas signs the forms for his parents, he signs Kyle Huskey, not Thomas, so they question who Kyle is.

When he was in jail, the detectives were building up a case against Thomas for the murder of Patty, which led them back to Cahaba Lane and the Zoo. However, the barn had been destroyed, so they focused on Cahaba Lane.

At this time in Knoxville, they had reports of eight missing prostitutes, and they began to think they were dealing with a serial killer. Soon their suspicions were correct, and they found two more bodies on Cahaba Lane. All the bodies were badly decomposed, so the detectives hired specialist Dr. Bill Bass, a forensic anthropologist.

It was soon discovered that one of the bodies was Patricia Ann Johnson, 31, a homeless prostitute living at a homeless shelter. The second body they determined was killed at a different location, and predators had drug the body down the hill to the clearing. With the body so badly decomposed and mangled, it was difficult to determine the cause of death.

Yet Dr. Bass noticed her hyoid bone was missing and sent his students to find it, and they did. With the discovery of the hyoid bone, they determined she died of strangulation. They also discovered the other body was Darlene Smith of Knoxville, last seen October 14.

Mid-October 1992, 3 bodies were found on Cahaba Lane, and on October 27, they found a 4th body further into the woods near a stream. The body also decomposed almost to a skeleton, between 25-35, and they determined she was most likely the first victim. It was discovered that her name was Susan Stone, a drug addict and prostitute.

The detectives now felt they had enough evidence to convict Huskey, so they began to question him on the murders of the women. At one point during the interview, it was said he requested his lawyer, but one never appeared.

As well as at one end, the detective left the room, and when he came back, Huskey's demeanor changed, and he was informed Thomas was not there, and this is when Kyle appeared. Kye then confessed to raping and murdering the woman because he hated Thomas and wanted to ruin his life; he also described the scene in detail so that only the killer would know.

When Thomas was back in Huskey's body, he explained he suffered from having multiple personalities; there were also Phillip Dax, Timmy, Jerico, and Larry. However, Kyle was the aggressive, loud, and dangerous one.

At this point, they charged Thomas Huskey with four counts of capital murder, and the DA wished to pursue the death penalty. Fortunately for Huskey, he was assigned two of the best defense attorneys Tennessee had, and they were determined to get it all thrown out, including the murder charges. They even brought jurors in from another county.

During the time that Huskey was waiting for his murder trial, four women came forward and accused Huskey of beating, raping, robbing, and leaving them in the woods to die. One of the women was not a sex worker and claimed he kidnapped her and took her to the woods.

Huskey was brought to trial for these crimes and pled not guilty. However, he was found guilty of four accounts of aggravated rape, robbery, and kidnapping and sentenced to 66 years in prison.

The murder trial did not start until January 26, 1999.

The defense claimed two psychiatrists diagnosed him with disassoicateive personality disorder and explained that Thomas claimed he was sexually abused, but it was never looked into. It was also rumored that he said he would act crazy to get out of the charge.

As well as, the lawyers discovered that Judge Bruce Baker was not a judge, and all the evidence from the house was thrown out. Due to a lack of evidence, the case against Huskey was not as strong as they thought, and they did not give him a lawyer when he asked.

The investigation's many holes led to a deadlocked jury, and the judge declared a mistrial. The DA tried to bring the case to court again in 2002, but they discovered a judge did not sign the original search warrant and was invalid.

All the evidence was thrown out, as well as the confessions thrown out because Thomas did not get a lawyer as he requested. All of the mistakes led to the murder charges being dropped in 2005. However, he remains in jail, serving a sentence for rape that he was sentenced to 66 years, ending in 2056.

So even though Kyle, another personality of Thomas's, admitted to murder due to the investigation and procedure not being followed correctly, he will never be tried or in prison for murder. So leaving him as the serial killer who got away with murder; luckily, he is in prison regardless due to the other charges that he could not escape.

Hopefully, he is not paroled, he was up for parole in 2012 but was not granted, and he is still in prison at South Central Correctional Center in Clifton, Tenn.