Rocky Top Village Inn

Posted: 02.11.2020 | Updated: 05.21.2025

Gatlinburg, Tennessee, is a popular mountain resort tourist town located near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. What started as a small town turned into one of the most visited vacation spots in the southeast. Today, with attractions like Dolly Parton’s theme park Dollywood, Gatlinburg is a place where you can have fun and relaxa. Still, there are also many haunting secrets that cast a dark shadow over this peaceful town. Such as those at the Rocky Top Village Inn.

Learn all about the secret haunted places inside Tennessee’s top tourist destination on a Gatlinburg Ghost Tour.

Is Rocky Top Village Inn Haunted?

The site of The Rocky Top Village Inn, is now home to a new Courtyard Marriott. But, it remains one of the most talked about and haunted locations in Gatlinburg. Could the tortured spirits of victims involved in a gruesome double homicide still be lingering around the place of their death?

The 1986 Murders at Rocky Top Village Inn                  

The Rocky Top Village Inn was a motel located near the downtown area of Gatlinburg, TN. Since 1982, it was a nice location to stay while enjoying the local attractions. 

The Inn was originally opened by the songwriting duo Felice & Boudeleaux Bryant. The pair were responsible for writing hit Rock n’ Roll and Country songs for artists such as Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, and Charley Pride.

In 1986, a few years after the motel opened, Gatlinburg experienced a boom in tourism when the Dollywood theme park officially opened. The new attraction brought in as many as 50,000 visitors per day to the tourist town. This brought in plenty of economic revenue to the area, as well as people from all walks of life. With so many people staying in the area throughout the year. But, it also became much easier for criminals to carry out deadly deeds.

On September 13^th, 1986, two innocent victims, Melissa “Missy” Suttles-Hill and Troy Dale Valentine, lost their lives at the hands of four selfish and cold-blooded thieves.

The Road to Gatlinburg

After being released from prison in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in August of 1986, Eddie Leroy Harris, aka Tattoo Eddie, and Joseph DeModica met up with their friend Ashley Silvers. They were a transgender woman formerly known as Rufus Doby.

The trio moved on to Georgia, where they picked up Eddie’s girlfriend, Kimberly Pelly, and headed north to Knoxville, Tennessee. The four of them hoped to find work as performers at a strip club located there known as The Pepper Tree.

Still strapped for cash, DeModica, along with the others, went to see his friend Tracey Clark, who let him borrow money to pay for a motel stay. Tracey allowed them to park their car in her driveway for the night to sleep in it. That following Friday, they spent the night at the apartment of another friend of DeModica’s, Tim Farmer.

Harris and DeModica told Farmer that they were planning to return to Gatlinburg the next day and wouldn’t be working at The Pepper Tree that night.

Hours Before the Fatal Killing 

On Saturday afternoon, September 13^th, the four of them left Tim Farmer’s apartment. They headed to Dandridge and attempted to sell some items they stole from Farmer, including a leather coat, a mink coat, and a radio. 

They met with another acquaintance of DeModica’s, Johnnie Shultz, to sell the goods, but she refused to buy them. She was suspicious they were stolen. They later ended up selling everything at a local bar.

The four spent the rest of the day in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at Laurel Falls. While there, they came up with a plan to rob several businesses in Gatlinburg. They left the park, and Eddie drove them to the Rocky Top Village Inn, where they planned to stay for the night.

The Double Homicide of Melissa Hill & Troy Valentine

When they arrived at the motel, Kimberly went inside to talk to Melissa, who was the front desk clerk. Melissa led Kimberly outside to show her one of the rooms they had available. Harris and DeModica soon joined them.

Screams and the sound of a scuffle came from inside the room. Melissa was handcuffed and then attacked by both Harris and DeModica. She was stabbed eighteen times before she was shot in the head.

In his testimony, DeModica stated he spotted handcuffs in Eddie’s vehicle while they were staying at Tracey Clark’s residence. Eddie and Kimberly both told him there was also a gun in the car. 

DeModica also stated that Harris had two knives hidden on his belt, one large with a serrated edge. That information played a crucial role in autopsy findings.

A few moments after Melissa was shot, a golf cart rolled up to the scene driven by the motel’s security guard, Troy Dale Valentine. He had been alerted by Melissa’s husband, who was worried about her when she didn’t return his phone call. 

He had been in contact with her throughout the night, and during their last conversation, she told him she would call him back at a certain time. When she didn’t call, her husband got in contact with Valentine.

Leaving the Scene of the Crime

When Valentine arrived at the motel, Melissa had just been shot. Harris and DeModica were still on the scene. They forced Valentine into the room and used his own flashlight to knock him unconscious. 

Harris and DeModica proceeded to stab him several times in the chest, jaw, back, and neck before shooting him between the eyes. DeModica and Harris, along with Kimberly and Ashley, stole Melissa’s purse, which contained approximately $499 plus the hotel cash deposit, before they fled the scene.

Three days later, a letter was found in a phone booth outside the police station in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. Inside the letter was a pocketknife later identified as one that belonged to Melissa. The letter was written by Harris and contained details that only the four of them would have known.

The Conviction of the Rocky Top Village Inn Murderers

On Dec. 16, 1987, Harris was arrested in Atlanta. A year later he was sentenced to the death penalty, but in 2002, he was declared by the court as mentally unstable, and therefore he could not be executed. He received three consecutive life sentences. 

However, he didn’t carry out his full sentence. In March 2015, Eddie Harris was killed in a prison fight at the Wartburg Correctional Facility.

Joseph DeModica received a life sentence, as did Kimberly Pelly. Ashley Silvers pleaded guilty and has since been released from prison. According to news reports,  Pelley has also been released and is now residing in the Nashville area.

The Ghosts of Rocky Top Village Inn

Melissa Hill and Troy Valentine endured harrowing and gruesome deaths at the hands of merciless killers. An association with such malice and cruelty can only leave a deep darkness behind. While the original Rocky Top Village Inn is no longer standing, there is still a haunting presence that remains at the site of the 1986 murders.

Guests who stay at the new Courtyard Marriott have reported hearing the screams of the victims throughout the halls. Some have witnessed apparitions near the location of the old fountain that was once outside.

The Spirit of Melissa Hill 

Melissa’s ghost has been spotted near the front desk where she once worked, and both victims have been seen inside the hotel suites from time to time. One guest staying at the Marriott reported seeing blood mysteriously appear on the walls and mirror in the bathroom of his room. 

He then heard a gunshot coming from the main bedroom. When he rushed inside, he saw that the room was empty.

Another guest had a haunting encounter when they heard screaming and crying coming from their room before they even opened the door. When the door opened, he saw the body of a young woman in the middle of the floor. Before he could run to get help, she vanished.

The Spirit of Troy Valentine

There have been many similar encounters reported involving the ghost of Troy Valentine. Some have seen him walking up and down the halls at night, scanning the area with his flashlight even though the lights are clearly on in the hall.

When asked about the hauntings at the hotel, the staff usually keep quiet, but sometimes they will share some tales of their own.

Some who work night duty say they can sometimes hear muffled screams coming from the closet near the desk. Others have heard walkie-talkie frequencies coming from the phone at the front desk, similar to the one Troy Valentine would have used that night.

Although they may have a terrifying appearance and frighten some guests at the hotel, most people say the spirits do not cause any harm. For the most part, guests have not reported feeling uncomfortable, anxious, or uneasy the same way many people do when visiting a haunted space.

Haunted Gatlinburg

Gatlinburg, Tennessee, has a rich history filled with haunted stories and spooky lore connected to the rich Appalachian heritage of the Smoky Mountains. This gateway town to the national park has a smoky haze looming overhead that lingers in the same way the spirits of the dead do at one of the many haunted locations.

If you would like to learn more about the most haunted places in and around Gatlinburg, check out our blog. And be sure to schedule your next ghost tour with us here at Gatlinburg Haunts for the spookiest tour in the South.

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Sources:

• https://wejunket.com/junkets/Gatlinburg/Gatlinburg_Haunts/Courtyard_By_Marriott_Gatlinburg_Downtown/
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• https://www.wbir.com/article/news/local/scott-campbell-morgan/rocky-top-murderer-killed-in-prison-fight/51-94839112
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