Melissa Shonta Brooks, 7, died Sunday, Jan. 20, 1991, at her residence in Columbia.
Services will be 2 pm Thursday in Original Church of God on Eighth and Woodland Street, with Rev. Leroy Johnson officiating.
Burial will be in Cantrell's Meadowlawn Memorial Gardens, with V. K. Ryan & Son Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
The body will lie in state, today, in the funeral home. She was the daughter of Michael Brooks and the late Deborah Brooks. She was member of St. Luke M. B. Church and a first grader at Joseph Brown Elementary School.
Survivors include her father Michael Brooks; brother Rodney Brooks; maternal grandmother Mrs. Laura B. Scribner, paternal grandmother Mrs. Gladys L. Brooks, and grandfather Mr. Charles B. Mosley, all of Columbia.
Pallbearers will be Stacey Baxter, Johnny Baxter, Easley Baxter and Terrance Johnson.
Columbia Daily Herald 23 Jan 1991
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DOUBLE MURDER CASE BOUND OVER
By DANA KEETON Herald Staff Writer 7 Feb 1991
A Columbia man charged with two counts of first-degree murder tested negative on a drug and alcohol test although he told investigators he had smoked a large quantity of cocaine on the night of the murders, a detective testified Wednesday.
The two murder charges against Terrell Voorhies, 33, were bound over to the Maury County Grand Jury during a preliminary hearing Wednesday. He is charged in the brutal stabbing deaths of Debra Brooks, 27, and her 7-year-old daughter, Melissa Cathey.
According to Detective Leroy Hill of the Columbia Police Department, Voorhies tested negative to alcohol and drug tests given the morning of the Jan. 20 murders.
However, Columbia Police Detective Don Rose, who questioned Voorhies the same morning, testified Voorhies told him, he smoked six $20 bags of cocaine between 8:30 and 9:30 on the night of Jan. 19. Police discovered the bodies of Brooks and her daughter around 2 am the next morning.
Rose said Voorhies admitted to the murders but said he didn't know why he committed them.
"At one time, he shouted real loud that he killed an innocent child and didn't mean to," said Rose. "He said he was an animal, that he wasn't a human being."
Further testimony revealed four butcher knives were found in the trunk of Voorhies' car following his arrest. Hill testified a sock found in Voorhies' vehicle appeared to match a sock found on the murder scene of the child.
State Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Harlan told the court there were approximately 102 stab wounds to Debra Brooks' body. He said those included nine stab wounds to the heart, three to the lungs, and four to the spleen.
Harlan said Melissa Cathey died from either a stab wound to the chest, an incision-like stab wound to the abdomen, or both. He said the girl also had incisions on her neck.
Following the preliminary hearing, Voorhies was returned to an undisclosed location outside of Maury County where he is being held without bond.
Services will be 2 pm Thursday in Original Church of God on Eighth and Woodland Street, with Rev. Leroy Johnson officiating.
Burial will be in Cantrell's Meadowlawn Memorial Gardens, with V. K. Ryan & Son Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
The body will lie in state, today, in the funeral home. She was the daughter of Michael Brooks and the late Deborah Brooks. She was member of St. Luke M. B. Church and a first grader at Joseph Brown Elementary School.
Survivors include her father Michael Brooks; brother Rodney Brooks; maternal grandmother Mrs. Laura B. Scribner, paternal grandmother Mrs. Gladys L. Brooks, and grandfather Mr. Charles B. Mosley, all of Columbia.
Pallbearers will be Stacey Baxter, Johnny Baxter, Easley Baxter and Terrance Johnson.
Columbia Daily Herald 23 Jan 1991
---
DOUBLE MURDER CASE BOUND OVER
By DANA KEETON Herald Staff Writer 7 Feb 1991
A Columbia man charged with two counts of first-degree murder tested negative on a drug and alcohol test although he told investigators he had smoked a large quantity of cocaine on the night of the murders, a detective testified Wednesday.
The two murder charges against Terrell Voorhies, 33, were bound over to the Maury County Grand Jury during a preliminary hearing Wednesday. He is charged in the brutal stabbing deaths of Debra Brooks, 27, and her 7-year-old daughter, Melissa Cathey.
According to Detective Leroy Hill of the Columbia Police Department, Voorhies tested negative to alcohol and drug tests given the morning of the Jan. 20 murders.
However, Columbia Police Detective Don Rose, who questioned Voorhies the same morning, testified Voorhies told him, he smoked six $20 bags of cocaine between 8:30 and 9:30 on the night of Jan. 19. Police discovered the bodies of Brooks and her daughter around 2 am the next morning.
Rose said Voorhies admitted to the murders but said he didn't know why he committed them.
"At one time, he shouted real loud that he killed an innocent child and didn't mean to," said Rose. "He said he was an animal, that he wasn't a human being."
Further testimony revealed four butcher knives were found in the trunk of Voorhies' car following his arrest. Hill testified a sock found in Voorhies' vehicle appeared to match a sock found on the murder scene of the child.
State Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Harlan told the court there were approximately 102 stab wounds to Debra Brooks' body. He said those included nine stab wounds to the heart, three to the lungs, and four to the spleen.
Harlan said Melissa Cathey died from either a stab wound to the chest, an incision-like stab wound to the abdomen, or both. He said the girl also had incisions on her neck.
Following the preliminary hearing, Voorhies was returned to an undisclosed location outside of Maury County where he is being held without bond.
Melissa Shonta Brooks, 7, died Sunday, Jan. 20, 1991, at her residence in Columbia.
Services will be 2 pm Thursday in Original Church of God on Eighth and Woodland Street, with Rev. Leroy Johnson officiating.
Burial will be in Cantrell's Meadowlawn Memorial Gardens, with V. K. Ryan & Son Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
The body will lie in state, today, in the funeral home. She was the daughter of Michael Brooks and the late Deborah Brooks. She was member of St. Luke M. B. Church and a first grader at Joseph Brown Elementary School.
Survivors include her father Michael Brooks; brother Rodney Brooks; maternal grandmother Mrs. Laura B. Scribner, paternal grandmother Mrs. Gladys L. Brooks, and grandfather Mr. Charles B. Mosley, all of Columbia.
Pallbearers will be Stacey Baxter, Johnny Baxter, Easley Baxter and Terrance Johnson.
Columbia Daily Herald 23 Jan 1991
---
DOUBLE MURDER CASE BOUND OVER
By DANA KEETON Herald Staff Writer 7 Feb 1991
A Columbia man charged with two counts of first-degree murder tested negative on a drug and alcohol test although he told investigators he had smoked a large quantity of cocaine on the night of the murders, a detective testified Wednesday.
The two murder charges against Terrell Voorhies, 33, were bound over to the Maury County Grand Jury during a preliminary hearing Wednesday. He is charged in the brutal stabbing deaths of Debra Brooks, 27, and her 7-year-old daughter, Melissa Cathey.
According to Detective Leroy Hill of the Columbia Police Department, Voorhies tested negative to alcohol and drug tests given the morning of the Jan. 20 murders.
However, Columbia Police Detective Don Rose, who questioned Voorhies the same morning, testified Voorhies told him, he smoked six $20 bags of cocaine between 8:30 and 9:30 on the night of Jan. 19. Police discovered the bodies of Brooks and her daughter around 2 am the next morning.
Rose said Voorhies admitted to the murders but said he didn't know why he committed them.
"At one time, he shouted real loud that he killed an innocent child and didn't mean to," said Rose. "He said he was an animal, that he wasn't a human being."
Further testimony revealed four butcher knives were found in the trunk of Voorhies' car following his arrest. Hill testified a sock found in Voorhies' vehicle appeared to match a sock found on the murder scene of the child.
State Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Harlan told the court there were approximately 102 stab wounds to Debra Brooks' body. He said those included nine stab wounds to the heart, three to the lungs, and four to the spleen.
Harlan said Melissa Cathey died from either a stab wound to the chest, an incision-like stab wound to the abdomen, or both. He said the girl also had incisions on her neck.
Following the preliminary hearing, Voorhies was returned to an undisclosed location outside of Maury County where he is being held without bond.
Services will be 2 pm Thursday in Original Church of God on Eighth and Woodland Street, with Rev. Leroy Johnson officiating.
Burial will be in Cantrell's Meadowlawn Memorial Gardens, with V. K. Ryan & Son Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
The body will lie in state, today, in the funeral home. She was the daughter of Michael Brooks and the late Deborah Brooks. She was member of St. Luke M. B. Church and a first grader at Joseph Brown Elementary School.
Survivors include her father Michael Brooks; brother Rodney Brooks; maternal grandmother Mrs. Laura B. Scribner, paternal grandmother Mrs. Gladys L. Brooks, and grandfather Mr. Charles B. Mosley, all of Columbia.
Pallbearers will be Stacey Baxter, Johnny Baxter, Easley Baxter and Terrance Johnson.
Columbia Daily Herald 23 Jan 1991
---
DOUBLE MURDER CASE BOUND OVER
By DANA KEETON Herald Staff Writer 7 Feb 1991
A Columbia man charged with two counts of first-degree murder tested negative on a drug and alcohol test although he told investigators he had smoked a large quantity of cocaine on the night of the murders, a detective testified Wednesday.
The two murder charges against Terrell Voorhies, 33, were bound over to the Maury County Grand Jury during a preliminary hearing Wednesday. He is charged in the brutal stabbing deaths of Debra Brooks, 27, and her 7-year-old daughter, Melissa Cathey.
According to Detective Leroy Hill of the Columbia Police Department, Voorhies tested negative to alcohol and drug tests given the morning of the Jan. 20 murders.
However, Columbia Police Detective Don Rose, who questioned Voorhies the same morning, testified Voorhies told him, he smoked six $20 bags of cocaine between 8:30 and 9:30 on the night of Jan. 19. Police discovered the bodies of Brooks and her daughter around 2 am the next morning.
Rose said Voorhies admitted to the murders but said he didn't know why he committed them.
"At one time, he shouted real loud that he killed an innocent child and didn't mean to," said Rose. "He said he was an animal, that he wasn't a human being."
Further testimony revealed four butcher knives were found in the trunk of Voorhies' car following his arrest. Hill testified a sock found in Voorhies' vehicle appeared to match a sock found on the murder scene of the child.
State Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Harlan told the court there were approximately 102 stab wounds to Debra Brooks' body. He said those included nine stab wounds to the heart, three to the lungs, and four to the spleen.
Harlan said Melissa Cathey died from either a stab wound to the chest, an incision-like stab wound to the abdomen, or both. He said the girl also had incisions on her neck.
Following the preliminary hearing, Voorhies was returned to an undisclosed location outside of Maury County where he is being held without bond.
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