More information on missing woman found deceased in Hardin Co.
HARDIN COUNTY, Tenn. — More details following the recovery of a missing elderly woman in a local river.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Missing woman found deceased in Hardin Co
Thursday afternoon, emergency management was contacted by the City of Dickson police department regarding an amber alert out of Dickson County and had reasonable suspicion that the subject of that amber alert could have come through the Saltillo boat ramp.
“We put a boat out last night and got some sonar hits on what we believed might be one, so we came back out this morning. We were able to go out the vehicle, and the person that was a result of that silver alert,” said Larae Sliger, EMA director for Hardin County.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced that 88-year-old Joann McWilliams was found deceased in Hardin County. She was driving a white 2020 Buick Encore Sport.
“They recovered the vehicle and the body from the Tennessee River this morning, and it was unintentional I believe. Since it was in our county we were there assisting. Dickson PD was the original investigating agency,” said Sliger.
The initial release tells us McWilliams had a medical condition that caused law enforcement and loved ones to be concerned that it would impair her ability to return home safely.
According to the sheriff, the daughter of McWilliams was on the scene at the time of the recovery.
“Hardin County Fire Department were the one that recovered everything. THP is the one that’s working the scene because it is worked as vehicle crash,” said Sliger.
According to Assistant Chief Todd Christian with the Dickson Police Department, a witness reports last seeing former Dickson Relator McWilliams on October 5 at a gas station in New Johnsonville buying gas, and spotted on camera on Highway 22 in Paris.
Family members reported she was pulled over eastbound on Highway 70, but close to midnight that day a license plate reader in Lexington, Tennessee detected her vehicle.
Chief Todd Christian tells us McWilliams cell phone was found in her home and she is believed to have left medications behind for medical conditions that could result in confusion and impairment to her cognitive abilities.
Findings from the recovery will be taken to the state medical examiner’s office for identification.
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