COCKE COUNTY, Tenn. — It's been more than 15 years since 19-year-old Megan Maxwell was murdered in Newport. On Tuesday the man convicted of killing her was set free from prison.
According to records from the Tennessee Department of Correction, 56-year-old Jeffery Stock was released from state custody on Aug. 13. He was originally sentenced to serve 18 years in prison for second-degree murder, theft and arson in Maxwell's death as part of a plea deal that led to his conviction in 2013. Four years of that sentence was taken off as time served at the time of his Jan. 2013 conviction.
The conviction was not one that Maxwell's family had hoped for. At the time, they expressed anger and disappointment that the state had sought a lighter sentence to obtain a plea deal from Stock.
As part of the plea, Stock admitted that there may have been evidence in the case that could cause a judge or jury to find him guilty of murder in exchange for having a first-degree murder charge reduced to second-degree murder. He never admitted to Maxwell's murder, however.
In April 2009, Maxwell disappeared in Cocke County. At the time, investigators suspected Stock and his father were involved in the 19-year-old's disappearance. Nineteen months later, investigators later discovered a human skull and other remains with clothing matching what Maxwell was wearing when she was last seen roughly 5 miles from where her car was discovered.
Stock was originally arrested in Blount County and charged with first-degree murder, rape, and arson in Maxwell's death. People in Cocke County, including Maxwell's family and local authorities, were upset after Stock's most serious charges were reduced to obtain a conviction against him. Stock's father also had his felony accessory charge dropped to a misdemeanor.
"We're not pleased with the amount of time because you are putting a sexual predator out in the community in 14 years that can victimize another family," former Cocke County Sheriff Armando Fontes said at the time Stock was convicted.