Who killed Pauline George? Case in Knox County, Tennessee, unsolved after more than 30 years

Pauline George (Knox County Sheriff’s Office)

KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. (WATE) — It’s been more than three decades since Pauline George was found dead in her home, but the case that first prompted Knox County investigators to order DNA testing remains unsolved.

According to the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, 50-year-old George was found stabbed to death in the basement of her West Knox County home on March 7, 1991.

According to KCSO, George left her job as an admissions clerk at Park West Hospital around 2 p.m. that day and arrived at her home on Luscombe Drive around 2:30 p.m. Investigators are still unsure what happened between that time and about 5 p.m., when her boyfriend, who was picking her up for dinner, discovered her body.

According to KCSO, neighbors reported seeing an older light green pickup truck backing into George’s driveway around 3 p.m. that day.

In 2018, George’s sister Betty Fuller spoke to 6 News and described George as sweet and loving. She was a mother of two adopted children and a loving friend.

At the time, David Davenport, chief cold case investigator for the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, also spoke to 6 News and shared that due to the amount of blood and carnage at the crime scene, there must have been a blood trail at the house, but it was as if the person who killed George cleaned up before leaving the house. Although this was the first case in Knox County where investigators used the relatively new method of DNA testing, the results were inconclusive.

George’s case is one of 24 unsolved homicide cases still under active investigation by the Knox County Sheriff’s Office. Anyone with information about George’s case is asked to call the KCSO Cold Case Unit at 865-215-3520 or 865-215-3590.