Note: Details of the case may be disturbing to some readers.
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. ( CLARKSVILLENOW) – The murder trial of Quentin D. Bird began Monday, Feb. 24, with opening statements and the state’s first witnesses who spoke about Allison Tenbarge’s life and what occurred on April 18, 2017, when Clarksville Police found her deceased inside the apartment she once shared with her ex-boyfriend.
Bird is charged with two counts of first-degree premeditated murder for stabbing 20-year-old Allison Tenbarge, 21 times. Tenbarge was 9-months pregnant with their son.
If convicted, Bird faces a life without parole sentence.
Judge Jill Ayer’s courtroom filled quickly Monday morning with family and friends of Tenbarge. The supporters endured bloody crime scene photos and emotionally intense testimonies about Tenbarge’s murder.
The jury composed of 10 men and 2 women heard hours of evidence from the state.
Who Allison was as a person and her relationship with Bird was at the forefront of the morning’s opening statements and testimony. The crime scene investigation and evidence collection at the apartment, the victim’s family’s lake house and an RV home in Kentucky, occupied much of the afternoon.
The question for the jury isn’t IF Bird killed Tenbarge and his unborn child, but WHY, both the state and defense attorney’s emphasized during opening statements.
Robert Nash, assistant district attorney, said a Tenbarge ending their relationship was Bird’s motive.
“This is the only why because she ended (the relationship) a week before,” Nash said. “The last opportunity he was going to have was that day. He isolated her in an apartment, grabbed that butcher knife and delivered 21 blows to her and the baby as she curled up in a fetal position trying to protect herself. This is premeditated murder.”
Nash said the attack was so vicious the baby in utero suffered stab wounds before his death.
“Allison Tenbarge was 20 years old and 20 years young. She was 9 months pregnant on April 18, 2017, when she suffered 21 stab wounds, some concentrated in the abdomen where her baby was just days from being born,” Nash said. “She was just days from being a mother to that baby boy.”
Reid Poland, Bird’s attorney, told the jury that the evidence would not be easy to see or hear and asked that the jury check their emotions at the door.
“You will hear him say he loved her and he’s sorry but can’t undo it,” Poland said.
He said the jury would hear a confession video and may also hear him testify from the witness stand.
He asked them to pay attention to his explanation of “why.”
“She had a heart of gold”
Regene Gill, the best friend, of Allison Tenbarge, testified that she and Tenbarge traveled to Clarksville from Evansville to get the last of her belongings out of the apartment she shared with Bird.
Tenbarge had planned to move back in with her parents in Evansville.
She had an ob-gyn appointment later that morning.
On the way to the apartment, Gill sent a text message to Bird from Tenbarge’s phone to see if he was working at Furniture Connection that day. He said he didn’t work that day and when they arrived he wasn’t at the apartment.
Two coworkers of Bird testified that Bird was working that day, but left early to’let Allison in the apartment.’ However, Gill said Allison had her own key.
One coworker testified that Bird told him he “regretted” Tenbarge being pregnant.
Bird came to the apartment as the two women were packing Tenbarge’s belonging. He engaged in conversations with Tenbarge.
“He was trying to get Alli to stop from leaving. He grabbed her and told her she didn’t have to go,” Gill said. “He wasn’t yelling. He said, ‘How do I know this is my child?”
Tenbarge reassured him it was and that she hadn’t cheated on him. she said.
Gill continued packing and Tenbarge asked her to wait in the van so she could talk to Bird for 5 minutes.
Tenbarge gave Gill her cell phone and the van keys.
It was the last time she saw Tenbarge alive.
Since she had Tenbarge’s phone, she received text messages from Bird’s phone.
At one point, she was messaged to go get Bird a pack of gum from the store and Bird even called an gave her directions. When Gill returned from buying the gum, Bird’s car was gone. Text messages continued to come from Bird’s phone to Tenbarge’s phone telling Gill they were running errands at the bank, getting food and went to Cadiz.
Gill waited in the van, not knowing her friend was deceased inside the apartment.
She was informed of what had occurred after Clarksville Police did the welfare check and discovered Tenbarge’s body in the early morning hours of April 19.
“Alli was a very outgoing, outspoken, person. She had a heart of gold, ” Gill said when asked about her best friend. “She’d just smile through anything she was going through.”
“She wanted to leave for good”
Jami Carlson, Tenbarge’s mother, was the state’s first witness of the day and testified that two days prior to her daughter’s murder they’d had a baby shower at the family’s Evansville home.
A photo of Tenbarge celebrating with her family and friends was shown to the jury and read that ‘it was a beautiful day to celebrate a beautiful life.’
Carlson described Quentin and his family previously being welcomed to their lakehouse, going to sports events with their family throughout the couple’s one-year relationship.
In January 2017, she learned she was going to be a grandmother, but shortly after Tenbarge and Bird broke up.
Tenbarge moved back home after the breakup because she thought he was talking to other girls, Carlson said.
The two reconciled and in February 2017, Bird and Tenbarge rented an apartment together in Clarksville.
In April 2017, the couple again broke up and Tenbarge moved back in with her parents.
“She wanted to leave for good,” Carlson said.
On April 18, 2017, Carlson wanted to go with her daughter but had exams and Tenbarge didn’t want to go another day. They spoke and she promised to be back in Evansville by 5 p.m.
After her exam, Carlson texted her daughter and received very short responses. When 5 p.m. passed, she reached out to the Bird family to see if they’d heard from Quentin Bird.
She then called Clarksville Police to do a welfare check at the apartment around 10 pm.
Bird’s parents later traveled from Cadiz, Ky. to the apartment to try and open the door. Bird’s mother’s key worked and police immediately noticed blood trails in the foyer of the apartment.
After 2 a.m., Carlson said she was notified that Allison’s deceased body had been discovered in the apartment.
Carlson was shown a photo of the kitchen knife block with the butcher knife missing. She sadly said she recognized it because she gave it to them as a housewarming gift.
Several Clarksville Police Officer testified to the discovery of Tenbarge’s body inside the dark apartment.
“Allison was sweet, funny, she was very kind. She loved her pets and brothers,” Carlson said. She was very excited to become a mom. I’d never seen her so content.”
Court will resume Tuesday at 8:30 a.m, with the state putting on more evidence.
