Female body found in lake

The body of a young female that could be a missing Waterloo woman was discovered floating in the Clinch River, police said Saturday.

"The body was discovered in Melton Hill Lake, which is in Anderson County," said Darrell DeBusk, public information officer for Knoxville, Tenn., police.

The location is on Lovell Road, 6 to 10 miles from the Days Inn where Jennifer Hampton was reported missing last weekend, authorities said.

Ironically, a large electronic billboard with a photo of Hampton and information about her disappearance is situated just across the road from the entrance to the lake.

Knoxville police met with family members around 11:30 a.m. Saturday to discuss the case.

"Understandably, the family is very distraught at this time, but they are still holding out with hope and prayers that they will find Jennifer alive," said Eddie Daniel, a Knoxville attorney who is representing them.

Although the body has not been identified, authorities agreed that it did match the description of the former homecoming queen at Waterloo High School.

"All we know for sure is that the body was that of a young white female," DeBusk said. "There was no identification found at the scene."

He said the body was retrieved from the lake and taken to the Knox County Medical Examiner's Office at the University of Tennessee's Forensic Center.

According to a report in the Knoxville News Sentinel, the fisherman who discovered the body said the female was lying face down in the water and was nude. He said he was getting ready to cast a line when he spotted the body, and at first he couldn't tell if it was a woman.

DeBusk refused to go into conditions of the body at the time of the discovery. Authorities are believed to be trying to use dental records to make a positive identification.

DeBusk said an autopsy will be performed on the body, not only for identification purposes but to obtain other information that could be helpful with the case and the investigation.

As news of Saturday morning's discovery began to circulate, friends of the family began to think the worst but continued with positive thoughts and hopes.

"I talked with a member of their family, and they're real upset. They believe it's her, but they're still not 100 percent positive," said Michael May, a friend of the family whose daughter graduated with Hampton.

"I know it's got to be hard on their family. It's really hard on the community and her friends," he said.

At Waterloo's football game Friday evening, members of Hampton's graduating class sold balloons to raise money for her family and then released them at the game in her honor.

Hampton, 21, was in Knoxville to help open a new restaurant. She was last seen at the Days Inn on Lovell Road in Knoxville on the night of Sept. 19. Police were called the next morning when Hampton did not meet coworkers as planned.

She was in Knoxville with coworkers of Mama Blues Buffet to help train workers for a new restaurant.

DeBusk said the area where the body was found was on a list that was to be searched in the disappearance of Hampton.

"From the very beginning, we recovered evidence that would suggest she was a victim of foul play, and that hasn't changed," DeBusk said.

Police have refused to discuss or go into details of why they believe Hampton was a victim of foul play or exactly what evidence was taken from the motel.

Authorities have said the motel room where Hampton was staying was in disarray.

Tom Smith can be reached at 740-5757 or tom.smith@TimesDaily.com.