Human remains found inside car pulled from Melton Hill Lake

Donna Smith, Oakridger
·2 min read
This photo of the mud-and-silt covered car pulled from Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge on Wednesday night, Nov. 10, 2021, belonged to Miriam Ruth Clark Hemphill, who has been missing since July 22, 2005.
This photo of the mud-and-silt covered car pulled from Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge on Wednesday night, Nov. 10, 2021, belonged to Miriam Ruth Clark Hemphill, who has been missing since July 22, 2005.

Human remains have been found inside a car pulled from Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge Wednesday night. The car belonged to 84-year-old Miriam Ruth Hemphill, of Oak Ridge, who disappeared in July 2005.

Oak Ridge Police Department investigators and the Medical Examiner’s Office were working together Thursday to process the car, according to a city of Oak Ridge news release. The Medical Examiner’s Office is also working to identify the remains.

It’s unclear how long it will take to identify the remains, the release stated

"As previously stated, it is still unclear whether the remains discovered in the vehicle are Hemphill’s," the release stated.

Members of the Blount Special Operations Response Team (BSORT), which includes members of the Blount County Sheriff’s Office, Blount County Rescue Squad, Maryville Police Department, and the Alcoa Fire Department, helped ORPD in recovering the car after ORPD reportedly received a tip from private divers about the vehicle Wednesday afternoon. The vehicle was pulled out of the water shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Miriam Ruth Hemphill
Miriam Ruth Hemphill

The Oak Ridge Fire Department also helped investigators with the processing and deconstruction of the vehicle Thursday morning as crews sorted through the silt and mud that had accumulated over the years it was under water.

Anyone with information that may help investigators is asked to call ORPD at (865) 425-4399. Crime tips can also be submitted online at http://oakridgetn.gov/department/ORPD/Home. Information can be given anonymously.

In a 2009 story in The Oak Ridger marking the fourth anniversary of her disappearance, Mrs. Hemphill's husband, Bill, told reporter Beverly Majors in a phone interview that he believed his wife was dead and that she drove her car into an area lake.

Miriam Ruth Hemphill
Miriam Ruth Hemphill

Three months prior to her disappearance on July 22, 2005, the Hemphills' daughter, 44-year-old Connie Hemphill Skapik, was found dead inside her car in a university parking lot in Dayton, Ohio. Her death was ruled a suicide.

Bill Hemphill told police his wife, who was called Ruth, left a note about their daughter's death. He also said he found a newspaper clipping his wife had cut out concerning a person who drove into a lake.

Police officers and other emergency workers were on the scene Wednesday night, Nov. 10, 2021, after the car belonging to Miriam Ruth Clark Hemphill, who has been missing since July 22, 2005, was pulled from Melton Hill Lake.
Police officers and other emergency workers were on the scene Wednesday night, Nov. 10, 2021, after the car belonging to Miriam Ruth Clark Hemphill, who has been missing since July 22, 2005, was pulled from Melton Hill Lake.

Ruth Hemphill left their Oak Ridge home on Kingsley Road early on the morning of July 22, 2005 in her 1999 Buick LeSabre. He called the ORPD shortly after 6:30 p.m. that night to report his wife missing.

Bill Hemphill died on June 22, 2016 at the age of 95, according to his obituary. It stated that he "loved traveling with his wife Ruth," who was listed as having preceded him in death.

Donna Smith can be contacted at (865) 220-5514 or by email at dsmith@oakridger.com. Follow her on Twitter @ridgernewsed.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Human remains found inside car pulled from Melton Hill Lake