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No foul play in burial of child in Carter County

Published June 25th, 2009 | 3 Comments

ELIZABETHTON — The discovery of the remains of an infant on Tuesday afternoon sparked an immediate investigation by the Carter County Sheriff’s Department, but it now appears to be a case of a mistake in location when the child was legally and professionally buried.

Sheriff Chris Mathes said Wednesday it appears the remains are those of a child who was buried in the Ensor Cemetery in the Stoney Creek community in 1992.

One convincing factor was the way the remains were buried. Mathes said the infant had been placed in a small coffin and had been dressed in a manner normally done by commercial funeral homes. The coffin had also been placed in the grave in a professional and respectful manner, even if the location might have been off.

“This was not a two-foot hole where someone tried to hide a body,” Mathes said.

Another proof was used to help clinch the case. Mathes said a “sounding rod” was used to determine that the child buried in 1992 was not in the spot where it was supposed to be.

Mathes said the rod is pushed into the soil. It will continue downward in the soil at a steady rate until it encounters something hard, like a casket. Mathes said the rods did not find a casket in the location where the child was supposed to have been buried.

Mathes said the determination of the proper location was made more difficult because there had never been a marker placed on the child’s grave and the fence row on the cemetery boundary had changed.

“I have never seen anything like this,” Mathes said of the case. He said it added to the sadness of both the family who lost an infant and the family of the person whose burial led to the discovery.

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wow

Greg Gilreath | 6/25/2009 - 8:36 AM - ( Comment

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Let's just hope that sort of thing doesn't happen very often...

Angela Roberts | 6/25/2009 - 7:53 AM - ( Comment

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Goodness sakes.

S B | 6/25/2009 - 6:13 AM - ( Comment

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