New Evidence Links Teens to Triple Murder

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By Nick Beres

PULASKI, Tenn. - New evidence links two teens with the murder of a Giles county mother and her two children. Sources tell NewsChannel 5, 18-year-old Matthew Wood and 18-year-old William Angel allegedly set the victims' home on fire hoping to hide the crime.

There is surveillance video of the two suspects going to a service station after the murders and buying gasoline. Not long after that the home caught fire with the bodies inside. Wood was later treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center for severe burns.

Wood and Angel are charged with killing Desere Thornton and her two sons, 16-year-old Jerrod and 9-year-old Anthony, last month. The three appeared to be stabbed, but the state medical examiner has yet to indicate the exact cause of death.

NewsChannel 5 has learned four separate blood samples were found at the scene - three from the victims and one possibly linked to the killer.

Woods and Angel allegedly went after Jerrod Thornton in a dispute over a girl. They both are in the Giles County jail charged with three counts of first degree murder.

Investigators are still waiting on the results of the autopsy, and have yet to determine the exact cause of the fire. They will be holding a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

Email: nberes@newschannel5.com