KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – It has been 34 years since Dr. Hiram Kitchen was shot and killed in his driveway in north Knox County. The murder case that attracted his attention remains unsolved.
Kitchen was appointed dean of the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine on February 8, 1980. Kitchen often thought much further ahead than the average person, so when you sit down and talk to him you think, “Wow, he's a little different,'' said Dr. DJ Krawinkel. . Krawinkel said he came to Knoxville with Kitchen in 1975 and started UT's veterinary medicine program.
Although Kitchen was well known in veterinary medicine for his work in biochemistry and exotic animals, his distinguished career was cut tragically short.
On February 8, 1990, 10 years after he was appointed dean, Kitchen was gunned down in his driveway. Police said the man was shot nine times, including twice in the face.
Detective Mike McLean, chief of the Knox County Sheriff's Office's cold case division, has closely examined the case dozens of times. “You literally get to the point where you can't find anything else to do. If there's any evidence there, it should have been done a few times,” he said.
On the day of the murder, Dr. Kitchen left his home in Powell at around 6:45 a.m., an hour earlier than usual, and was scheduled to have a breakfast meeting with colleagues and the president of the American Veterinary Medical Association. “We had eaten dinner the night before, and early the next morning Dr. Kitchen was scheduled to pick him up at his hotel and take him back to school,” Krawinkel said.
What happened before Kitchens got in his car and drove to the end of the driveway remains a mystery. At some point, he got out of his car to close the driveway gate. That's when shots were fired, investigators said. “It's passionate, isn't it? It's not just for effect. It's not trying to hurt or kill anybody. It's sending a message,” Det. MacLean said.
Kitchen's murder shocked all of Knoxville. Just days after the shooting, the Knox County Sheriff's Office issued a national alert saying, “Animal rights extremists may have shot and killed Kitchen…and intend to kill one dean per month for the next year.” ' he warned.
No other deans were killed.
At the time, some animal rights activists attacked the institute and released the animals. Some argued that all animal labor was abusive. After Kitchen's murder, investigators looked closely at the extremist theory, but ultimately rejected that theory. Dr. Kitchen had an open-door policy in his UT lab and advocated for animal protection through medical journals. Police determined that if this theory were true, he would likely not be a target.
The investigator shines a magnifying glass on the person closest to the kitchen. “As you can imagine, they were very interested in their wives. When it all starts to add up, you have to look at it as an investigator,” MacLean said. “They've had problems in their marriage. They've filed for divorce twice. That doesn't mean they killed someone, per se, but when you put it all together, it's like, 'Well, this isn't pretty.' think.
What is the key to solving this case? Finding the .22 revolver used in the shooting in the kitchen is the only piece of evidence that can solve this decades-old case.
If you have any information regarding the murder of Hiram Kitchen, please contact the Knox County Sheriff's Office Cold Case Unit by calling (865) 215-3520 or emailing coldcase@knoxsheriff.org.
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