Community remembers Jennifer Hampton

CENTRAL HEIGHTS - Family, friends, former classmates and strangers who have been touched by Jennifer Hampton's life gathered tonight to pay homage to her memory and to a life many say was too short.

Hampton, 21, was killed Sept. 20 in Knoxville, Tenn. while on a business trip with co-workers. Police say the man accused of taking her life - 19-year-old Valentino Vasquez Miranda, an illegal immigrant - used a master pass key to enter her motel room. Hampton's body was found Sept. 27 in Melton Hill Lake, less than 10 miles from the Days Inn where she was saying. Miranda was employed by the motel.

"She was a hard working little girl," her sister, Amanda May, said tonight after the memorial service at Morrison Funeral Home. "She was always happy. She always had that smile."

Hampton's family buried her body this morning in a private graveside ceremony.

"When we're faced with something like this, we don't know what to think," said the Rev. Tim Smith, who pastored the church Hampton attended when she was growing up. "There's going to be a day when you'll think about Jennifer and you'll smile again. And you'll be able to say, 'Thank you, God. Thank you for allowing her to be a part of my life.'"