Human remains have been found near the wrecked vehicle belonging to long-missing Gail Palmgren found at the bottom of a bluff on Signal Mountain.
At a Friday morning press conference, Sheriff Jim Hammond said remains had been found and it is believed to be that of Ms. Palmgren, but that had not yet been confirmed.
Authorities have called for a special forensics team from University of Tennessee in Knoxville to help with the recovery of those remains.
Sheriff Hammond also said that Ms. Palmgren's purse and cell phone had been found, indicating that the remains may be those of Ms. Palmgren. It does not appear that the seat belt had been buckled in the vehicle, but that is not definite. The vehicle was badly damaged and the remains were found about 100 yards from it.
An air search conducted Thursday morning by the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and Tennessee Highway Patrol resulted in the discovery of the wrecked vehicle located between the East Brow on Signal Mountain and the W Road.
Authorities said the vehicle is the red Jeep Rubicon that Ms. Palmgren was last seen driving. Sheriff Hammond said the tag on the vehicle was that of Ms. Palmgren.
Sheriff Hammond said the top and the windshield of the vehicle were ripped off, and it is likely that the driver was thrown out.
Sheriff Hammond said the place where the vehicle would have gone off the mountain is on a straight-away near an upscale home.
Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office personnel along with other local and state personnel coordinated to make their way down to the vehicle, which was found in very heavy undergrowth.
Rescuers had to rappel down a bluff to reach the vehicle that was some 250 feet below East Brow Road off a sheer bluff.
The nearby W Road was closed as soon as the first report came in of the discovery. The road will remain closed to traffic from Mountain Creek Road to the top at East Brow until further notice. Residents who live on the W Road will be requested to show identification before being allowed to continue to their homes.
Sheriff Hammond said the helicopter that spotted the vehicle was equipped with special detection equipment. He said it earlier found another wrecked vehicle, that will be checked out later.
Janice Atkinson of the sheriff's department said it earlier had been planned to carry out an aerial search for the red Jeep after the leaves had fallen off the trees.
Ms. Palmgren has been missing since April 30 after dropping off her two children at the family home at the St. Ives subdivision.
Investigators had been baffled by the fact that there was no trace of her or her Jeep since then.
Friends said she had been having marital troubles at the time of her disappearance.
Ms. Palmgren, who had been married to former BlueCross BlueShield executive Matt Palmgren, had been at the couple's lake home in Alabama prior to returning to Signal Mountain. She dropped off their children, then drove off by herself.
There was one reported sighting of the Jeep on a remote Signal Mountain road that night. A Marion County woman said she was sure it was Ms. Palmgren in the Jeep and there was another woman with her.
Her strange disappearance had been the subject of websites and a national missing persons TV show.
There had been reported sightings of her red Jeep in different parts of the country, including Florida, but none checked out to be her.
Matt Palmgren and a female friend both were dismissed by BlueCross while the search for Ms. Palmgren was underway.
There were searches of the Palmgren home as well as of the lake house.