The Tennessee woman discovered dead in the backseat of a submerged police patrol has been identified as 35-year-old Tabitha Smith.
Meigs County Sheriff’s Deputy Robert ‘RJ’ Leonard had arrested Smith on Wednesday evening after he responded to a report of a man and a woman fighting on a bridge at around 10 p.m Wednesday.
It was the new deputy’s first arrest ever. The two were later found after the patrol car went into a local pond.
Smith, who was called Tabby by her friends, leaves behind a husband and two children, reported WVLT.
‘She had a heart of gold, and despite any struggles and troubles she had, she was a great person,’ said her friend Emilie Neusel.
‘I hope they remember her by her name. Tabby Smith. And I hope she’s remembered by more than the girl in the back seat.’
The Tennessee woman discovered dead in the backseat of a submerged police patrol has been identified as 35-year-old Tabitha Smith
Robert ‘RJ’ Leonard (pictured left with wife), a deputy with the Meigs County Sheriff’s Office, made a chilling call to dispatch on Wednesday evening, saying ‘water,’ and subsequently lost communication with the office
Smith’s remains was discovered dead in the backseat of a submerged police patrol, shortly before the body of the missing deputy was recovered from the river
Her friend Sheena Mchome said, ‘She was a happy person, outgoing, she loved life.’
‘I could not imagine being trapped and knowing my life was going to end.’
Leonard, made a final call to his dispatch on Wednesday evening, saying ‘water,’ before losing all communication with the office.
On Thursday, his patrol car was extracted from the Tennessee River, and Smith’s body was recovered.
Leonard’s body was found hours later near the location where the cruiser was removed, as reported by the sheriff’s office.
‘There was a whole lot of mud. There is a body in the backseat of the car covered by a lot of mud. A lot of mud on the front seat, but [there’s] no body in the front seat,’ Meigs County District Attorney Russell Johnson said.
The deputy graduated from the training academy in December last year and joined the force since then.
‘Deputy Leonard had only been here for a couple of months, but he had become a part our family,’ Chief Deputy Brian Malone said in tears.
‘It’s a hard time for us here. It’s something that we don’t ever deal with here in Meigs County,’ he added.
Shortly after 10 p.m. on Wednesday, Leonard made a radio communication to dispatch, telling them he was driving to the county jail with a suspect.
Ten minutes later, communication with the deputy became broken, and he didn’t respond to a status check.
Almost at the same time, Leonard texted his wife saying, ‘arrest,’ and his wife responded, ‘that’s great.’
On Thursday, a patrol car was extracted from the Tennessee River, and a body believed to be that of the arrestee was recovered.
‘Deputy Leonard had only been here for a couple of months but he had become a part our family,’ Chief Deputy Brian Malone said in tears
‘We know that his phone did not evidently receive that text,’ Johnson said.
In his final radio call, Leonard said ‘water,’ a word that authorities had to use ‘special techniques’ to decipher later.
‘Dispatch couldn’t tell what he was saying,’ Johnson said. ‘We think he was saying, ‘Water.”
A satellite tracking of his vehicle and a location sharing app on his photo led the officers to Blythe Ferry Road near the Tennessee River.
‘They triangulated the last position of his phone and the Life360 that his wife has attached to his phone, and it appears that they’re almost in the same location,’ Johnson said.
On Thursday morning, a vehicle filled with mud was located in the Tennessee River. It was upside down with wheels up, and the driver-side window was down.
Agencies across the state are still investigating the incident, but Johnson said the deputy appeared to be texting and talking on the radio while driving in a treacherous road.
‘They are not well lit. They are not well marked. They are narrow. If he’s not paying attention, he could hit that water pretty quick,’ Johnson said.
The deputy graduated from the training academy in December last year and joined the force since then
The devastating incident has left Leonard’s wife and children in anguish, as his wife shared in a social media post
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‘We’re operating under the theory that it was an accident – he missed his turn, he wasn’t familiar, and he was doing other things that may have caused him to go into the water,’ Johnson said.
Chief Deputy Malone stated that this isn’t the first crash in the area, noting a previous incident in December where a woman survived after driving her car into the water.
The devastating incident has left Leonard’s wife and children in anguish, as his wife shared in a social media post.
‘Our lives are forever changed. Please just keep praying. Pray harder than you ever have before. My heart is breaking for my kids, and I am just an absolute wreck. I will start reaching out when I can pull it together.
‘For now, all I can do is cry. We love you forever RJ. 17 years isn’t long enough with you,’ she wrote.