Tennessee : Melissa Chilton & Tiffany Campbell
1996 was one heck of a year, the silver screen was ablaze with unforgettable blockbusters such as Independence Day, Mission: Impossible, and Twister, captivating audiences worldwide. In the political arena, Bill Clinton secured his second term as the President of the United States. Sports fans cheered as the Chicago Bulls achieved their remarkable fourth championship win, solidifying their legendary status. The toy industry experienced a frenzy with Tickle Me Elmo and beanie babies reigning supreme on the wish lists of children and collectors alike. Meanwhile, the price at the pump was a mere $1.23 per gallon, providing a welcome respite for motorists. In the world of music, the country charts resonated with the soaring melodies of Faith Hill, Shania Twain, and Joe Diffie, whose hits undoubtedly echoed through the heart of Tennessee, where we are navigating advocacy this week.
Nashville, Tennessee—a truly unique city celebrated as the cherished "Music City." Here, the echoes of melodies and lyrics reverberate through the iconic Grand Ole Opry, the largest songwriters festival on the planet, and the warm embrace of numerous talented musicians who proudly claim this city as their home. But the history of Nashville stretches far beyond its modern musical reputation. Centuries before the lively beats and harmonies took over, the land was graced by the presence of the Shawnee, Cherokee, and Chickasaw tribes, leaving behind their rich cultural heritage. Tennessee holds the distinction of being the last state to join the confederacy in the tumultuous year of 1861, marking a pivotal moment in its past.
It's crucial to acknowledge another aspect of the city's reality—a concerning issue that demands attention. Despite its beauty, rich heritage, and musical enchantment, Nashville grapples with a persistent challenge: a high crime rate that has persisted over the years. Even in 1996, this problem was evident, reflecting the gravity of the situation. Particularly concerning is the alarming rate of violent crime, which nearly doubles the state average. Shockingly, your chances of falling victim to such crimes stood at 1 in 84—an unsettling statistic that requires serious consideration. To put the scale of the issue into perspective, the year saw just shy of 100 reported murders, approximately 400 rapes, over 1500 robberies, and nearly 6,000 assaults—a stark reminder of the importance of addressing and combating crime effectively in this vibrant city. We saw this first hand when we were there earlier this year while advocating for Laresha and Wanda Walker. These numbers stood out in my mind while searching for a story to share this week.
I stumbled upon the story of Melissa Chilton and Tiffany Campbell.
Melissa Chilton
Melissa grew up in the charming town of Brush Creek, located an hour east of Nashville, had graduated high school the Spring prior and had embarked on a journey as a psychology major at Middle Tennessee State University in the neighboring town of Murfreesboro. Balancing her studies with an adventurous spirit, Melissa lived on campus but made the 37-mile commute into the heart of the city for work. Melissa’s friend and co-worker, Tiffany Campbell, who also had her own story to tell. She had attended McGavock High School there in Nashville. I couldn’t find much more on Tiffany’s history other than she absolutely loved her grandmother. The two spoke regularly and always knew the importance of telling each other “I love you” These two young women, each with their unique dreams and aspirations, personify the spirit of Nashville, a city that weaves together the lives of diverse individuals.
Tiffany Campbell
When you think of Nashville now, you think about Broadway street, the neon lights and loud music. Just a couple of blocks away from this bustling bar lined avenue, is Church street. Tucked away into a plaza between a restaurant and a grocery store was an adult tanning salon named Exotic Tan for Men. Melissa and Tiffany were both recruited into working at this salon by fellow friends. They were enticed by the amount of cash they could make. One of the employees stated she made between $500-600 a day! That is a ton of money for a young college student. Most of the employees were in their teens, some may have even been under 18. Both Melissa and Tiffany were 18 years old and worked as dancers.
This establishment was known as an “adult oriented business” but it had a reputation of not being on the up and up. Not only did most rumors include hints regarding sex work, it operated on under more than one name. A few advertisements strategically placed next to ads for adult bookstores called this business “Private Moments”. There was only one tanning bed, five waiting rooms and each waiting room featured a love seat.
Melissa kept her employment a secret from her family. She had been recruited by an old friend from high school as a private exotic dancer. She was struggling with this decision and had even told her roommate she was planning on quitting. She didn’t like hiding this information from her family, especially her mom.
Early February, Melissa’s mother Gail had a disturbing dream that prompted her to drive the hour west to see her daughter. Gail took Melissa out to dinner in Murfreesboro and was telling her the vivid details she remembered. It was that Melissa had been murdered. The dream was so gruesome it caused Gail to show up unannounced at Melissa’s dorm.
Melissa calmed Gail’s nerves by reminding her that it was just a dream and that everything would be just fine. She promised to check in with her mom more often and that she would visit as much as she could. She almost told her mother about her employment but chose to keep it a secret since she had planned on quitting soon. No need to add worry to her mother’s plate especially since it wouldn’t be an issue very soon.
About a week after this dinner date, on February 22, 1996, Melissa was slated for her regular shift at the salon and due to an unforeseen circumstance, another employee called Tiffany in to assist them during the morning hours.. The salon opened at 10 am and usually remained open until 1 am the following day.
As the morning progressed, the manager attempted to reach the girls on multiple occasions, making routine check-in calls. When the phone went unanswered around noon, he decided to stop in and see why no one was answering. He was not prepared for what he found when he entered the salon around 2 pm.
When he stepped inside he found the front desk left unattended and proceeded to the back of the building to break room. This is where he found Tiffany and Melissa. The two women had been savagely murdered.
Medical examiners, once arriving on scene, determined the two teens had been stabbed nearly 100 times collectively with a double edged blade.
The act of stabbing is incredibly intimate. Tiffany had a significant amount of defensive wounds and over 70 of the wounds were counted on her body alone. Investigators immediately believed that the women knew their attacker and that the assailant was familiar with the location.
The salon was equipped with a door lock that required you to be “buzzed in”. The patron must then sign in before being escorted back to one of the waiting rooms. The last customer had signed in at 11 am. This leaves an approximate 3 hour window of when Melissa and Tiffany could have been murdered.
Police originally reported that both Tiffany and Melissa likely had “a lot of boyfriends'' and that it was a regular occurrence for customers to cause problems in the past.
I imagine that these customer’s claim dibs on their favorite dancers which may create some drama and jealousy with other patrons. But I'm not sure I would call them “boyfriends” of the dancers.
As with many establishments that deal in cash, surveillance is a top priority. The salon had cameras that recorded onto a VHS system. The assailant knew enough about the establishment to take this machine with them out the back door. Removing any video evidence of who the murderer could be. They also seemingly knew the layout of the salon with the women being murdered in the back room as opposed to a “waiting room” customers would use. Along with the footage, Melissa & Tiffany’s wallets and identification were taken.
Law enforcement ruled out robbery as a motive fairly early on as patrons paid by dropping their money into a locked safe which remained untouched. The employees were not allowed to bring cash into the salon and while Melissa and Tiffany’s wallets were taken by their murderer, law enforcement believe it was for the purpose of taking their identification more than any money they may have.
The murder weapon was not found but a military style sheath was left behind. Many fingerprints were gathered and filed but no immediate matches were made. Investigators went as far as climbing on the roof of the building to look for any potential evidence that may have been tossed.
Gail was at dinner with a friend when she received a page from her son. Not knowing this call would change her life, she phoned home and her son handed the receiver to an officer. He informed her that her daughter had been murdered. She didn’t believe them at first and thought perhaps they had called the wrong person. She didn’t know Melissa was working in Nashville let alone at this type of establishment. Detectives explained that she had been positively identified as one of the deceased by the manager and that they would need to speak with her. Gail’s world came crashing down.
The women’s bodies were sent for autopsies and then released to the families for funeral services.
Determined that there would be a quick resolution, Gail went to the police department the Monday after Melissa’s memorial preparing to face her daughter’s killer. She didn’t know that it would take almost 2 decades before there would be any traction in Melissa’s case.
Over the years the women’s murder became a somewhat topic of interest in Nashville. Law enforcement claimed it was one of Tennessee’s most notorious unsolved crimes, but it didn’t receive as much media attention as one might think. A handful of articles were peppered throughout the media but almost always with what I would consider a degrading headline. There was too much focus on the nature of the women’s work and not enough focus on the women themselves. Many rewards were offered and multiple suspects were investigated including mass murderer and death row inmate, Paul Dennis Reid.
Nashville Metro PD continued to work the case. Their cold case unit’s motto is “never give up”. And they never did.
February 21, 2013, just one day shy of 17 years, Gail had a name and a face of her daughter’s alleged murderer.
Patrick Streater
A grand jury indicted Tiffany Campbell’s ex-boyfriend, Patrick Lamonte Streater, on two counts of premeditated first-degree murder.
Streater, was on the person of interest list from the beginning because of his ties to Tiffany, but law enforcement didn’t have enough evidence to act. Back in 1996, Streater was a star athlete at McGavock High School, the same HS Tiffany attended. He went on to become a football coach at Jesuit High School in Sacramento California and also worked as a security guard until he lost his job in February of 2002.
Some reports stated that losing his job made him snap and Streater went on a violent robbery spree and attacked elderly women. A witness wrote down his license plate and reported him to the Placer County Sheriff’s Department. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Law enforcement awaited Streater to finish out his sentence in California before requesting his extradition to Tennessee to face these murder charges.
Prosecutors spoke to Streater’s ex wife who told detectives that he had once owned a knife identical to the military style knife used in the murders. A partial DNA sample was gathered on the knife sheath that showed a possible link to Streater but it was a low possibility. One of the Exotic Tan employees interviewed by police told law enforcement that Streater had come in the day prior to the murders and when he learned that Tiffany wasn’t there working he became angry and stormed out.
Law enforcement believed from the beginning that the murders were a crime of passion, could it be a lover’s quarrel gone wrong? Investigations and evidence continued to point to Tiffany being the main target of the attacks.
Over the next 5 years, the state worked to build a case strong enough to deliver a conviction. Prosecutors sought the most advanced scientific testing and DNA analysis they could find. Hearing after hearing commenced gaining no real traction towards a conviction.
Streater maintained his innocence over these years. He stated that he was at his mother’s house during the murders. He even had phone records to show he was speaking to his then girlfriend around 11:22am. His attorney claims there is no way he could have a 7 minute conversation hang up, travel to Exotic Tan, commit these murders and get away with it before the manager arrived at 2 pm. Prosecutors originally pushed to say that it was indeed possible.
In 2017, an incarcerated inmate named Quinton Hughes, testified that his late cousin had confessed to killing Tiffany but never mentioned Melissa. This cousin had died in a car accident 3 years prior. This being hearsay with no way to vet the testimony, law enforcement had nowhere to go with this tidbit of information. Criminals regularly confess to crimes they didn’t commit or offer up information in hopes to negotiate a deal.
During the court case, Streater’s attorney pointed out that a man named David Ewin had dated Melissa and he had been released from jail the day before the murders temporarily. Ewin was convicted in an unrelated murder but his DNA was compared to the DNA found under Melissa’s fingernails and on the sheath and was returned “inconclusive”. Ewin is still currently incarcerated.
Having no tangible evidence, on Friday, June 29, 2018, the state dropped their charges against Patrick Streater and he was released.
Twenty two years after their murder, Melissa and Tiffany’s case was back to square one. Gail continues to fight for justice for both her family and Tiffany’s. Tiffany’s mother died of a heart attack in her sleep in 2016 after one of the hearings, never learning the truth about who killed her daughter. After Streater’s release, Gail remained positive. She was quoted as being a patient person and that she will wait for justice.
Gail has since become a victim’s right advocate in the wake of this horrific event. She helped the city of Nashville draft regulations related to adult oriented businesses.
The council pushed through a policy called the “lap-dance ban”. It stipulated that all booths must be in plain view with no doors or curtains. There must be a six foot buffer between patrons and performers on stage. The owners must be licensed and cannot have a criminal record of sex crimes. Performers must also have a city permit and cannot have a criminal record of sex crimes. All clubs must be closed by 3 am and cannot be open before noon on Sundays.
All of these stipulations remain in effect today with the one amendment to change the six foot buffer to a three foot buffer.
Gail firmly believes that had these policies been in place when Melissa was working, both her and Tiffany would still be alive.
Tiffany Campbell and Melissa Chilton’s murder remains unsolved almost 3 decades later. The establishment has long since been bulldozed and a new building erected in its place.
If you know anything about what happened at the Exotic Tan for Men on February 22, 1996, please contact Nashville Crime Stoppers at 615.74.CRIME
Sources:
https://www.newspapers.com/image/932158835/?terms=Just%20askin%3A%20what%201996%20cold%20case
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