Knox County prosecutors and defense attorneys are heading back to court this week in the brutal rape and torture killing case of 22-year-old Danishka Melina Sibaja Mejia, a crime that rattled South Knoxville in April 2024. One defendant has already pleaded guilty and is serving life in prison, but the remaining co-defendants are back on the criminal calendar as judges take up pretrial procedures that will determine how the rest of the case moves forward. The renewed court dates are drawing fresh attention from Mejia’s family and local advocates who say they still want answers.
According to WBIR, Knox County Criminal Court calendars list hearings resuming this week in connection with the Gilbert Lane homicide. The station reported that judges are expected to handle scheduling and case-management issues, including whether the remaining defendants will face a joint trial or be tried separately.
Knoxville police identified the victim as Danishka Sibaja Mejia and said officers found her on April 5, 2024, inside a South Knoxville home on Gilbert Lane. The department reported that Mejia had reported a sexual assault the previous day at an address in the 600 block of Walker Street and named Latawyne Osborne as the suspect. According to the Knoxville Police Department, investigators later took their findings to a grand jury, which returned multiple indictments.
Earlier Plea and Life Sentence
One central defendant, Latawyne Osborne, later pleaded guilty and in 2025 was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. As reported by WVLT, Mejia’s family addressed the court at the sentencing hearing. Her father told reporters afterward, “He tried to silence her but he made her louder.”
Co-defendants and Indictments
A Knox County grand jury indicted four people in April 2024, naming Osborne, Marquis Ellis, Edward Wilson and Angela Greenburg on charges that included felony murder, aggravated burglary and especially aggravated kidnapping, according to the grand-jury presentment. Coverage that four indicted in Knoxville also noted the community reaction as details of the case became public.
Legal Outlook
Before Osborne entered his plea, prosecutors indicated they were prepared to seek the death penalty in his case, according to local reporting. The counts that remain against Ellis and Wilson still carry the possibility of life sentences if jurors eventually convict. Judges are also expected to consider pretrial disputes over what evidence will be allowed at trial and whether any of the cases should be severed. Those rulings typically shape both strategy and timing in multi-defendant prosecutions and are expected to be addressed as court resumes…