Meigs County Deputy R.J. Leonard’s body was found in the Tennessee River nearly 24 hours after he was last heard from on Wednesday.
The bodies of a rookie deputy and a woman he had arrested have been located after nearly 24 hours in the Tennessee River.
A search began for Meigs County Deputy R.J. Leonard on Wednesday night after he responded to a call of an incident on a nearby highway bridge.
He responded to the scene at 9:48 pm local time and three minutes later he was en route to the Meigs County jail with a suspect, District Attorney Russell Johnson said in a press conference, per Local 3 News .
Minutes later, a dispatch came in from Leonard that “took a while” to understand, but Johnson said authorities “think he was saying ‘water.’ ”
Johnson continued, “At the very same time, he was also texting his wife. It was my understanding that he sent a one-word text that said ‘arrest.’ ”
Authorities later learned that it had been Leonard’s first-ever arrest since he joined the sheriff’s office two months ago.
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Nearly 24 hours later, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office confirmed in a post that Leonard’s body had been found.
“His remains are currently being escorted to the Knoxville Regional Medical Examiner’s Office by motor units with the HCSO, Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Chattanooga Police Department,” the post continued.
“We would also like to ask our community to keep the family of Deputy Leonard and his colleagues in the Meigs County Sheriff’s Office in your thoughts and prayers during this very difficult time.”
Hours before, authorities confirmed that Leonard’s patrol car and the body of the woman he had arrested had been recovered from the river, Local 3 News reported. Her identity has not been publicly confirmed.
