A Deadly Triangle

Natalie Morales • Profile

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - In a modest home on a quiet street in Knoxville, Tenn., a young couple created their portrait of a happy family. Theirs was a quiet existence, full of promise - but filled with secrets.

Tamara Mulkey: A marriage of bliss in the beginning and pure chaos at the end.

This is a story of ordinary people - aspiring teachers  and a bright but troubled young man, whose lives collided with devastating impact.

Debra Flynn: I couldn't kiss my son goodbye.

A home now without its family, a mother in hiding with her two children, turned into shadowy silhouettes – and a father haunted by what he'd done.

Long before the secrets and the scrutiny, Erin and Eric McLean were working toward a better life for their family. Tamara and Brian Mulkey believed their friends were well on their way.

Tamara Mulkey: They were really looking to get that all-American family, just right there, and they weren't going to let anything stop them.

Eric McLean grew up in and around Knoxville. Passionate about music, he hoped to teach high school music. Be a band director. 

Tamara Mulkey: Music - it was everything to him.

That is, until the age of 18, when he met 16-year-old Erin Myers. She, too, wanted to be a teacher. Friends remember a free spirit who was also a gifted student. 

Tamara Mulkey:  Vibrant, intelligent. The all-around perfect girl.

Eric and Erin lived together and even saved enough to buy a house- a one story with a small yard on Coker Ave. A son, Eric Jr., quickly followed.  The young couple married in 1996: Eric, 21 and erin 19.

Tamara Mulkey:  Oh, in the beginning, they were like every perfect married couple, loving and attentive. They were in love, and you could see it wherever they went.

Three years later another son, Ian, was born. By the fall of 2006, Eric, now 31, was pursuing his degree in music education at the University of Tennessee. But with a family to provide for, he also juggled several jobs.

Erin, 29, was getting a Masters’ degree- her second- in education.  She started a student teaching assignment - at West High School in Knoxville. She seemed to making a great first impression.

Shiloh Jines was a student at West High.

Shilo Jines: I had heard that she was a cool person. That she was kinda young and kind of an interesting person.

Eric's parents, Norman and Tanya, could see that Erin was devoted to her work.  Still, they were  surprised when Eric made a request about one of Erin’s students that seemed to go above and beyond the call of duty.

Natalie Morales:  I know that Eric had asked you to help him with something at one point.  Is that right?

Erin McLean: He said, "Mom, there's a student of Erin's and he got kicked out of his house.  And I was wondering if he could come and stay with y'all."  And I said something to my older son who was down for Sunday dinner.  And he said, "There's too much of this teacher stuff going on that would look real bad, you know?"  He said, "She should, not be that friendly with- with a student."

The student never did move in. And over on Coker Avenue,  nothing seemed out of the ordinary - at least not yet.

Tamara Mulkey: Erin was in the process of becoming a teacher, and Eric was well on his way to becoming a music instructor, and from the outside everything seemed perfect. And I think that’s why we were all just so blindsided by this.

Eric McLean: Hello, I have an intruder in the house.

911: Where are you?

Eric McLean: 2424 Coker Avenue.

It was Saturday, March 10th, 2007. A little after 9:00 p.m. Eric McLean placed a call to 911.

911: You have an intruder in your house? What do you mean by an intruder?

Eric McLean: Trespasser.

911: Do you know this person?

Eric McLean: Yes.

911: Okay, who is it?

Eric McLean: Some guy who`s stalking my wife.

911 operator: You have an intruder in your house? What do you mean by an intruder?

Eric McLean: Trespasser.

But after a few moments, the call changed tone...

Eric McLean: Now he's leaving."

911: Okay, do you want to speak to an officer?

Eric McLean: Oh, no. He's leaving now.

Whatever was going on seemed to end - but within seven minutes - another 911 call. And this time, it was Erin on the line.

911: 911.

Erin McLean: My husband just killed someone.

911: Is he there with you right now?

Erin McLean: No, but the body`s here.

911: How did he do it?

Erin McLean: He shot him with a shotgun. Please come! Hurry! Hurry! Oh my god!

Knoxville police raced to the scene. And as they swarmed Coker Avenue, they found the "intruder" was dead - and Eric McLean was gone.

With Eric on the run - police began piecing together what happened that night. And before long it became clear this so-called intruder - this marriage - and this student teacher - were not what they had seemed to be.

Brian Mulkey: I still can't kinda describe the shock I felt when I found out what happened. Because there was obviously a lot more wrong there than any of us knew.

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