Son arrested for slaying of prominent Oak Ridge physicist
Gordan Evren Ellis, 33, who apparently has a history of alleged mental illness and believed he was controlled by the CIA, is being held in lieu of $500,000 bond at the Knox County Detention Facility. He is accused of killing Yurdanur Akovali, 72, by bludgeoning her with a fire extinguisher.
Akovali began working at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1967 and retired as a full-time researcher in 2001, lab spokesman Billy Stair said. She then worked in the Physics Division as a guest researcher and also had a research appointment at the University of Tennessee.
Akovali and Ellis reportedly argued over a recent real estate deal made by Akovali, but the details were unclear Tuesday. The Knox County Sheriff’s Office failed to release any information on its investigation.
According to public records on file in Knox County, Akovali purchased a home in Knoxville last month. It was at the new house that she was allegedly killed by her son on Thursday. She also paid taxes on a house in Oak Ridge, records show.
Ellis confessed Monday to killing Akovali, an arrest warrant filed by sheriff’s office detectives showed.
“The defendant stated that he struck the victim about the head using a fire extinguisher,” the warrant said. “The victim’s body was transported to Austin Bottom Road in Baxter, Tennessee. The defendant admitted he set the victim’s body on fire.”
Akovali’s body was discovered Friday in a clearing “about 100 to 150 feet from the road” by nearby residents, said Detective Charles Griffith of the Dekalb County Sheriff’s Office.
Knox County detectives contacted Griffith’s office after they learned of the body’s discovery, he said.
Ellis is scheduled to appear April 15 in Knox County General Sessions Court.
His personal Web site paints a picture of alleged mental illness and past acts of violence. In a rambling essay that detailed his alleged fantasies of mind control and “CIA brainbombs,” Ellis described himself as the victim of an experiment to make him want “to kill someone.”
On his Web site, Ellis said that in April 1986 he remembered being “hypnotized … with the help of Xanax” while he was an employee of a restaurant near Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville.
Ellis claimed the event led to his “being programmed to do a lot of crazy things. (My boss) said that it was a CIA thing and that everyone involved was hypnotized. He was also in a trance while programming me.”
It’s unclear when Ellis wrote the essay on his Web site or if it is accurate. The Web site also contains pictures of his family, a list of his favorite CDs and several photographs of cars he has owned.
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Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel, http://www.knoxnews.com