Sarah Johnson, 32, was identified by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. According to investigators, she suffered head injuries so severe that it was difficult to determine her identity...
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The identity of a Bedford County found brutally murdered at a Sims Road home Tuesday night was released Friday.
Sarah Johnson, 32, was identified by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. According to investigators, she suffered head injuries so severe that it was difficult to determine her identity.
“The investigation remains active and ongoing,” TBI spokesperson Susan Niland said.
A man who law enforcement officers suspect was involved in Johnson’s death was being sought by law enforcement earlier this week. That search has been cut back with no word from the TBI on his status.
The man, described in a Bedford County Sheriff’s Office as a “black male, slender build” in a late-night alert text message and Facebook post, walked away from a wreck at the Sims Road-Henslee Road intersection around 7:30 p.m., Sheriff Austin Swing said. The car he was driving was owned by Johnson, according to Swing.
“We don’t know who the victim is,” Detective Lt. John Sweeney of the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday morning. “Who we originally thought it was...that is not who it is.”
Investigators have declined to release details on how the woman was killed, such as what type of weapon, if any, was involved or if she and the suspect were acquainted.
“State Trooper Barry Qualls was working the wreck scene. He arrived and no one was in the car,” Swing said. The initial radio call to first responders also said the car was empty.
“About the same time a nearby resident called about a prowler,” Swing said. “The door to the woman’s house was found open by family members and she was found inside deceased.”
“TBI special agents are working with deputies with the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office on a homicide investigation there, after a woman was found deceased in a home,” the TBI said Wednesday in a press release.
At least five TBI detectives and a crime scene investigation van were at the Sims Road home Wednesday processing the interior and searching the yard. No TBI presence was apparent Thursday.
Investigators said the man knocked on doors of two homes in the area before disappearing. He was last seen walking toward Sims Road from Henslee Road.
