Thread: AL-Family of missing Alabama woman seeks help

Family of missing Alabama woman seeks help while search goes on
2 men questioned at Days Inn, where Jennifer Hampton stayed, arrested on bogus IDs
By Don Jacobs (Contact), Chloe White (Contact)
Originally published 10:42 a.m., September 26, 2008
Updated 03:09 p.m., September 26, 2008



Shairee Dorrill, grandmother of Jennifer Lee Hampton, pauses during a press conference in attorney Eddie Daniel's Knoxville office on Friday.



Jennifer Lee Hampton, 21, of Alabama, who went missing from the Lovell Road Days Inn on Sept. 19

Searching for Jennifer Lee Hampton


Tears flowed at a press conference held this afternoon by the Alabama family of 21-year-old Jennifer Lee Hampton, who disappeared sometime Friday night or early Saturday morning and who police believe is the victim of foul play.

"Whatever I can do to help this family, I'm going to do it," said Eddie Daniel, a Knoxville attorney and former police officer who said he's representing the family free of charge.

Daniel said the family is not wealthy and that SunTrust Bank has set up an account for donations to help them defray the costs of staying in Knoxville. Donors can give money at any branch.

"They want to stay here until their daughter is found," Daniel said.

Daniel corrected what he said was inaccurate information that has been disseminated in some media as the case has gotten national attention, including a comment that Hampton expressed concern to a boyfriend about two men Friday night outside her room at the Days Inn on Lovell Road.

Daniel said the last family member Hampton spoke with was her mother, Cynthia Senn, around 11:30 p.m. Friday.

She has "no formal boyfriend," Daniel said, and spoke to her mother "seven or eight times a day. … This is a very close family."

Hampton's mother, stepfather Tim Senn, fraternal twin Michelle Hampton, younger sister Jessica and grandmother Shairee Dorrill are in Knoxville. A third sister is on her way.

Hampton's mother was in tears the moment she walked into this afternoon's meeting with reporters, and her sisters wept throughout the press conference. Daniel said Cynthia Senn hasn't slept in three days and has been prescribed medication to help her sleep.

Family members didn't speak at the press conference, but Daniel asked anyone with information to contact authorities or him, and to consider donating to the SunTrust fund.

"Whether it be 50 cents or a dollar," Daniel said. "These folks work and won't be able to work. They're incurring expenses every day. … They have very limited resources and want to stay in Knoxville."

Hampton's mother drove to Knoxville as soon as she learned of her daughter's disappearance and arrived Saturday afternoon, Daniel said.

The search continues

Authorities this morning established a command center in West Knox County to search bodies of water for a 21-year-old Alabama woman who has been missing for a week.

Police suspect foul play in the disappearance of Jennifer Lee Hampton but haven't released details of what led them to that conclusion.

"Her room was in disarray," Knoxville Police Department Investigator Steve Still said. "That's all I'll say."

Searchers with the KPD and the Knoxville Volunteer Emergency Rescue Squad at 8 a.m. started combing the banks of lakes between Carl Cowan Park off Northshore Drive and the Tennessee River up to the Pellissippi Parkway bridge, KPD spokesman Darrell DeBusk said this morning.

"It's not that we have any specific information about those areas, but we're trying to eliminate areas," DeBusk said.

DeBusk said searchers will scan the area from boats and with people combing through the shoreline brush. A cadaver dog also has been enlisted in the search, police said.

Hampton was reported missing Saturday when she failed to meet with co-workers helping to open the new Mama Blue's Buffet restaurant in West Knoxville. Hampton and three other people were training new employees for the restaurant.

Hampton was staying in the Days Inn on Lovell Road. She was last seen about 9 p.m. Friday.

"I've talked with her family at length," Daniel said. "This is a very nice young lady. … She did absolutely nothing wrong."

Two illegal immigrants questioned

When Still began investigating the case, he questioned two employees of the Days Inn. He determined both Hispanic men were illegal immigrants, although they presented him with Social Security cards indicating they were legal residents.

"I charged them with forgery," Still said. "That stems from the bogus Social Security cards they had on them."

Still said the cards were such good counterfeits that most people would be fooled by the documents.

"I held theirs up to mine and you can't hardly tell the difference," he said. After questioning, both men admitted to being illegally in the country, Still said.

DeBusk said the men were booked into a Knox County jail under the names of Rogelio Melchor, 38, and Valentino Miranda, 19. He stressed that authorities have not yet determined if those are their real identities. Both men gave addresses in Knoxville.

Both men are being held without bond on orders of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

More details as they develop online and in Saturday's news Sentinel.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/sep/2 ... h-continu/

This doesn't sound good at all. Let's hope they don't let the two illegal immigrant out of jail.

The victim expressed concern about 2 men hanging around outside her hotel room. 2 men were arrested for fake social security cards and are probably illegal aliens. But people cant make assumptions just because it looks suspicious. I hope the family finds her and that she is ok.