MEIGS COUNTY, Tenn. (TCD) — The body of a rookie deputy who disappeared while driving someone to jail was found in a river in rural Tennessee.
According to 9th Judicial District Attorney Russell Johnson, on Wednesday, Feb. 14, at 9:48 p.m., Meigs County Deputy Robert “R.J.” Leonard responded to a disturbance on a bridge and arrested a woman.
Three minutes later, Leonard informed dispatch he was en route to the county jail with the woman handcuffed in the back seat. At 10:03 p.m., Leonard tried making contact with dispatch, but service was choppy and they had a difficult time deciphering what he was saying.
Johnson said analysts determined he said “water.” Around the same time, he texted his wife, “Arrest.”
This was reportedly Leonard’s first arrest.
Leonard stopped responding to status checks from dispatch, which prompted law enforcement officials to start searching for him.
On Thursday, Feb. 15, Johnson announced Leonard’s car was discovered submerged in a river near Blythe Ferry, which matched Johnson’s last known location. A female was reportedly found deceased and covered in mud in the back seat. She was still handcuffed. There was also mud in the front seat of the vehicle, but Johnson’s body was not in the car.
According to Johnson, the patrol car was nose-in, but upside down and wheels up. The driver’s side window was open. The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Thursday that Leonard’s body was located and escorted in a motorcade to the Knoxville Regional Medical Examiner’s Office.
The victim found in the back seat has not been publicly identified yet.
Johnson said he and investigators are “operating under the theory that it was an accident.”
Leonard had only been with the sheriff’s office for about two months.
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