By Shannon McFarlin WENK/WTPR News Director
Paris, Tenn.—The body of a woman who may be a woman who has been missing from Paris since 2016 has been located in Kentucky Lake.
Paris Police Captain Ricky Watson told WENK/WTPR that a vehicle belonging to Melissa Crane, who was last seen March 1, 2016, was found in the lake with a body inside of it. Positive identification has not yet been made, he said.
Melissa Crane, age 50, lived on North Market Street, when she was reported missing.
Watson said this afternoon the vehicle and body were pulled out of the lake around noon today. The vehicle was submerged in Kentucky Lake near Gray’s Landing.
Watson said officers with the Stewart Co. Sheriff’s Office called the Paris Police Department and said they were contacted by a fisherman Tuesday who had seen what he thought was a car on his side scan in Kentucky Lake.
“He gave Stewart Co. investigators the location to the vehicle, which he thought was an SUV,” Watson said.
Divers with the Stewart Co. Sheriff’s Office dove in the area where the vehicle had been seen, which was on the north side of the Ned Ray McWherter Bridge, also known as the Gray’s Landing area.
The divers located a vehicle, a maroon 1998 Ford Taurus, which they determined through the National Crime Information Center, belonged to a missing person from Paris.
Paris Police investigators responded to the scene and verified the vehicle was the one belonging to Melissa Crane, Watson said.
Upon pulling the vehicle out of the water, Watson said, it was discovered that there was in fact a body in the vehicle. “The vehicle was taken into evidence and the body will be sent to the medical examiner’s office in Nashville for an autopsy.”
Watson said the vehicle was approximately 50 yards from shore in about 9-10 feet of water.
“Officers do not expect foul play at this time, but will be awaiting the autopsy,” he said.
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