The body of a young woman found Sunday in Great Smoky Mountains National Park by hikers with a Baptist church group from Florida has been identified as 17-year-old Tamara Susan Seay of Cherokee, N.C.
A Park spokesman said Seay's death is being treated as a homicide and is being investigated by the National Park Service, FBI, Cherokee Police Department and Swain County Sheriff's Office.
Investigators are awaiting an autopsy report to determine the cause of death. The autopsy is being performed by the North Carolina State Medical Examiner's Office in Chapel Hill.
The body was found off Toms Branch Road, a narrow gravel road in the Deep Creek area on the North Carolina side of the Park.
Teen found in Smoky Mtns identified
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Great Smoky Mountains National Park rangers, along with federal and North Carolina authorities, have arrested a Cherokee, N.C., man in the shooting death of a teenager whose body was found last week in the park, a park official said Sunday.
Terrence Roach, 20, is being held in the Buncombe County Detention Facility in Asheville, N.C., said Smokies spokeswoman Nancy Gray.
He was arrested at his residence Friday night and charged with murder in the death of 17-year-old Tamara Susan Seay, Gray said. Seay also was from Cherokee.
Gray could not say why authorities suspected Roach or what his relationship was with Seay. Roach will appear today in federal court in Asheville, she said, after which more information should be available.
A Baptist church group from Florida found Seay's body Jan. 15 while hiking in the Deep Creek area of the Smoky Mountains off Toms Branch Road, Gray said.
Preliminary evidence indicates she may have been killed sometime Jan. 13, she said. An autopsy has been conducted. Authorities have the weapon they believe Roach used in the shooting, Gray said.
In addition to park rangers, officials with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cherokee Police Department and Swain County Sheriff's Office participated in the investigation.
Terrence Roach, 20, is being held in the Buncombe County Detention Facility in Asheville, N.C., said Smokies spokeswoman Nancy Gray.
He was arrested at his residence Friday night and charged with murder in the death of 17-year-old Tamara Susan Seay, Gray said. Seay also was from Cherokee.
Gray could not say why authorities suspected Roach or what his relationship was with Seay. Roach will appear today in federal court in Asheville, she said, after which more information should be available.
A Baptist church group from Florida found Seay's body Jan. 15 while hiking in the Deep Creek area of the Smoky Mountains off Toms Branch Road, Gray said.
Preliminary evidence indicates she may have been killed sometime Jan. 13, she said. An autopsy has been conducted. Authorities have the weapon they believe Roach used in the shooting, Gray said.
In addition to park rangers, officials with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cherokee Police Department and Swain County Sheriff's Office participated in the investigation.
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Two teenagers knew about the murder of Tamara Susan Seay and helped get rid of evidence, authorities allege in FBI affidavits filed Wednesday.
Joshua Brent Squirrel, 18, and Michael Edward Slee, 19, were charged with being accessories after the fact to the murder of the Cherokee teen in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
They were arrested Tuesday, said Rick Schwein, supervisor of the FBI’s Asheville office.
In the criminal complaints filed Wednesday, special agent Christopher Lando said that Squirrel admitted to disposing of a gun he knew was the murder weapon.
Slee, according to the complaints, admitted to throwing spent bullet casings into a river after watching Terence Howard Roach, 20, fire the fatal shots.
Roach has been charged with murder. Another FBI complaint says he told investigators he shot Seay after she stole an ounce of cocaine from him.
The three men originally told people that they last saw Seay when she was picked up by a silver car on a dirt road the night of her death, according to the complaints.
All three later recanted those statements, the complaint says.
According to their revised version of events described in the complaints, Slee drove Roach and his victim to the spot in the national park, then saw Roach shoot her.
He disposed of the bullets and drove to Squirrel’s house.
There Squirrel learned about the murder and agreed to take the gun and get rid of it.
Joshua Brent Squirrel, 18, and Michael Edward Slee, 19, were charged with being accessories after the fact to the murder of the Cherokee teen in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
They were arrested Tuesday, said Rick Schwein, supervisor of the FBI’s Asheville office.
In the criminal complaints filed Wednesday, special agent Christopher Lando said that Squirrel admitted to disposing of a gun he knew was the murder weapon.
Slee, according to the complaints, admitted to throwing spent bullet casings into a river after watching Terence Howard Roach, 20, fire the fatal shots.
Roach has been charged with murder. Another FBI complaint says he told investigators he shot Seay after she stole an ounce of cocaine from him.
The three men originally told people that they last saw Seay when she was picked up by a silver car on a dirt road the night of her death, according to the complaints.
All three later recanted those statements, the complaint says.
According to their revised version of events described in the complaints, Slee drove Roach and his victim to the spot in the national park, then saw Roach shoot her.
He disposed of the bullets and drove to Squirrel’s house.
There Squirrel learned about the murder and agreed to take the gun and get rid of it.
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