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He murdered his girlfriend. Then he dismembered her body. But when police finally caught him, he claimed Her 12-Year-Old Daughter was the real killer.
Except the little girl James Hawkins blamed had a horrifying story of her own — because she said her father had murdered her mother… then Forced Her to Help Him Cover It Up.
In February 2008, 28-year-old Charlene Gaither, a mother of three from Tennessee, suddenly disappeared. Her boyfriend and the father of her children, James Hawkins, told police Charlene had simply walked out after an argument.
Three days later, he reported her missing.
But Charlene hadn’t walked out.
On Valentine’s Day, an unidentified woman’s dismembered remains were discovered beneath a bridge in Mississippi. Her head, hands and feet were missing.
The victim was eventually identified as Charlene Gaither.
As investigators began looking closer at Charlene’s disappearance, Hawkins’ story quickly started falling apart. Police discovered an apartment reeking of bleach, missing carpet, a discarded mattress, an unusually clean freezer and surveillance footage showing Hawkins buying — and later returning — a saw.
Eventually, Hawkins admitted something extraordinary.
He admitted helping dismember Charlene.
He admitted disposing of her remains.
But according to him, he hadn’t murdered her.
Hawkins claimed his own 12-year-old daughter, K.T., had killed her mother — and he’d simply helped cover up the crime to protect his child.
But K.T. told investigators a completely different story.
She accused her father of sexually abusing and threatening her for months. She testified that she’d become pregnant through the abuse and suffered a miscarriage at just 12 years old. And days before Charlene’s murder, K.T. said Hawkins had already asked her to help him kill her mother.
Charlene herself had begun raising the alarm. She tried to get her daughter away from Hawkins, contacted police and sought a protection order after becoming increasingly concerned about his behaviour towards K.T.
Then, on February 9th 2008, Charlene disappeared.
K.T. later testified that she watched her father murder her mother after Charlene threatened to call police. What followed was almost unimaginable: according to K.T., Hawkins threatened to kill her too, forced her to help conceal Charlene’s body and made his 12-year-old daughter accompany him as he disposed of her mother’s remains.
And then he blamed the murder on her.
More than three years later, Charlene’s three children entered a courtroom and testified against their own father.
James Hawkins was ultimately convicted of premeditated first-degree murder, initiating a false report and abuse of a corpse. He was sentenced to death.
This is the deeply disturbing true story of Charlene Gaither and James Hawkins — a solved Tennessee murder case involving domestic violence, child abuse allegations, a missing mother, a disturbing crime scene, dismemberment, a shocking cover-up, conflicting stories and a father who attempted to blame his girlfriend’s murder on their 12-year-old daughter.
A true crime deep dive into one of the most disturbing lesser-known American murder cases: the disappearance and murder of Charlene Gaither, the investigation that exposed James Hawkins’ lies, the testimony of their children, the horrifying allegations surrounding K.T., the evidence presented at trial and the extraordinary story Hawkins eventually told police.
Podcast: True Crime w/ Anna Templeton