Dateline: Who is Norman Eugene Clark and what do we know about his connections to Brittany Eldridge's murder? Details explored

NBC's Dateline episode titled Deadly Circumstances depicted the 2011 murder of Brittany Eldridge. Eldridge was found dead by her mother in December 2011 in her home. Her unborn child also died after suffocating in the womb.

Eldridge's death made her boyfriend, Norman Eugene, the prime suspect. However, after two trials, the prosecutors were unable to convict Norman for killing his girlfriend, and to this date, he has maintained that he was not involved in the death of his girlfriend. Therefore, the homicide is still unsolved.

More on this in our story.

Dateline: Who is Norman Eugene Clark, and what do we know about his connections to Brittany Eldridge's murder? Details explored

As per Dateline, 28-year-old Norman was working in the Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance firm in Knoxville as a collector. Brittany Eldridge worked with him as they called clients to keep them updated about their mortgages. Brittany was eight and a half months pregnant with their child, whom they named Ezekiel.

However, on a tragic night in December 2011, Brittany was strangled from behind and died after her killer stabbed her twice with a scissors on her neck. After investigating and talking to Brittany's friend, Allison Brockhoff, Norman Eugene became the prime suspect.

After interrogating him, Norman revealed that he and Brittany had argued that day, due to which they even found numerous text messages on Norman's phone sent by Brittany. Furthermore, they also discovered that Norman was in relationships with many women, and none of them knew about the others. This, as per the prosecutors, became the motive for Norman killing Brittany, as she had been vocal about being with him and getting ready to give birth to their child.

According to Dateline, Norman also feared that if Brittany might begin to ask for child support once their son was born, it would result in his decision to kill her. However, they couldn't convict him as he had an alibi. His other girlfriend, with whom he claimed he was the night Brittany died, told the police she saw him by her side around 10:30 p.m., as she had been asleep before.

Without any DNA at the crime scene and no strong evidence, it was difficult for the investigators to investigate the murder of Brittany Eldridge.

Dateline: Norman Eugene acquitted in Brittany's murder case

Norman was put on trial twice, in 2015 and 2017, and both acquitted of the case of Brittany's murder. Several of Norman's girlfriends testified in the case. Norman's lawyers argued that Brittany might have been killed by a burglar. However, Knoxville Police Department crime scene investigator, Tiffani Hamlin, thought that the scene of the burglary might just be a setup.

But this still did not help build up a strong case against Norman, and he, in the August 2015 trial, was acquitted by eleven jurors. Later, in the September 2017 trial, several jurors voted to convict him.

As per Dateline, Norman has maintained his innocence in the case. Furthermore, it was also reported that Knox County District Attorney announced that a third trial would not be sought by the prosecutors in the case.

Trending

Keep reading Soap Central for more such stories.

Also Read: Monster: The Ed Gein Story soundtrack guide - A complete list of the music in the Netflix true crime drama

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback