Local 3 News
A patrol car belonging to a Tennessee sheriff’s deputy who disappeared while he was taking a woman to jail was dredged out of a river a day later, but the officer himself remains missing, authorities said on Thursday.
Meigs County Deputy Robert “RJ” Leonard’s vehicle was found flipped upside down in the Tennessee River, the driver’s side window rolled down. A muddy body, believed to be that of his female detainee, was discovered in the backseat, police said at an afternoon news conference.
“We always hope that it’s a rescue, so we always hold out that hope. But we also have to face the facts that are in front of us,” Hamilton County Sheriff Austin Garrett said. “We won’t lose hope that we could still recover him. It’s plain to see that he made it out of the car.”