Updated: 9/29/2008 7:46:21 PM
An Alabama family has had its fears confirmed. Knoxville Police confirmed late Monday afternoon that a body pulled from the Clinch River Saturday belongs to 21-year-old Jennifer Lee Hampton.
Attorneys for the family said Monday morning they were virtually certain the body belongs to their daughter.
Hampton, 21, was last seen the night of Sept. 19 at a Days Inn hotel on Lovell Road.
Attorney Eddie Daniel said the family held out a "miniscule amount of hope" that the body found was not Hampton's, but said they believed it likely is.
Daniel said he firmly believed that at some point in the future, the "individual or individuals who committed this horrendous crime will be brought to justice."
"I wish we'd had a better outcome, but we just don't think that's going to happen," Daniel concluded.
Her family said they expected to get confirmation from the medical examiner later Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning. Medical records that would confirm her identity had not yet arrived in the state.
He added that the family wanted no questions whatsoever about any evidence submitted in court later on, and that they would await the medical examiner's confirmation patiently.
Hampton was in town helping to open a new restaurant. Helping people, as she planned to do, had she made it back home.
"She, apparantly, was getting ready to start nursing school at the local community college. And I don't know how many times I've heard, she wanted to go to nursing school to help people. Everything about her...she was just a wonderful, wonderful person," family attorney Matthew Cook said.
She was described as a great daughter and a great sister. Her twin sister Michelle has been in Knoxville since Saturday afternoon and is devastated by her sister's disappearance, attorneys said.
Investigators are also awaiting news from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which is analyzing evidence found in Hampton's hotel room.
