Alert – Tennessee woman found dead in the backseat of a submerged police patrol car with missing cop’s body discovered in river after he was heard saying ‘WATER’ in chilling final dispatch

A Tennessee woman was discovered dead in the backseat of a submerged police patrol, shortly before the body of the missing deputy was recovered from the river.

Robert ‘RJ’ Leonard, a deputy with the Meigs County Sheriff’s Office, made a final call to his dispatch on Wednesday evening, saying ‘water,’ before losing all communication with the office.

Prior to Leonard’s disappearance, he responded to a report of a man and a woman fighting on a bridge at around 10 pm local time and took a woman into custody.

On Thursday, his patrol car was extracted from the Tennessee River, and a body believed to be that of the arrestee was recovered.

Leonard’s body was found hours later near the location where the cruiser was removed, as reported by the sheriff’s office.

A Tennessee woman was discovered dead in the backseat of a submerged police patrol, shortly before the body of the missing deputy was recovered from the river

 On Thursday, a patrol car was extracted from the Tennessee River, and a body believed to be that of the arrestee was recovered.

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

Although authorities are still working to confirm the identity of the woman recovered from the patrol, they believe it to be the woman arrested, Meigs County District Attorney Russell Johnson said.  

‘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,’ he added. 

Due to a strong current and murky water, it took search parties a couple of hours to confirm whether the other body belongs to Leonard.  

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. 

Although authorities are still working to confirm the identity of the woman recovered from the patrol, they believe it to be the woman arrested, Meigs County District Attorney Russell 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

Leonard’s body was found hours later near the location where the cruiser was removed, as reported by the sheriff’s office

‘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

Shortly after 10 pm 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.’

‘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. 

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

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. 

‘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.