November 13, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
Through fingerprints, investigators have now identified a woman found dead Monday morning in Smithville as 28 year old Jessica Renee Stephens of Cannon County. Her cause of death will be determined following the completion of the autopsy and toxicology report.
The case remains under investigation by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
“On Monday, November 12 DeKalb Central Dispatch received a call at 7:50 a.m. of a body lying in a backyard on Parkway Drive Smithville. Officers with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, Agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the 13th District Attorney’s Office were summoned to the scene,” said Sheriff Patrick Ray in a prepared statement.
Officers at the scene could not produce any photo identification on the body at that time. She was described as a white female, approximately 5’4” inches tall, approximately 120-125 pounds, sandy blonde hair, approximately 30-40 years of age. She was wearing maroon medical scrubs and brown boots. There was an orange Home Depot jersey, brown jacket and blue shirt at the scene. She also had a pierced belly button, a tattoo of a cross on the back of her neck, and what appeared to be a “M” “W” or “3” tattooed on her right hand.
“Thanks to those who contacted us to provide information in efforts to identify the woman,” said Sheriff Ray and the TBI in a joint statement