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Mother Of 5-Year-Old Found Dead Near Power Lines, Two Men Charged In 'Heartbreaking' Case
Carolyn Pope was found wrapped in a blanket and hidden under debris weeks after her grandmother reported her missing. Mitchell Hinderliter and Christopher Hall face charges in the case, though the investigation into how Pope dies is ongoing.
Weeks after a Tennessee mother was reported missing by her family, her body was found by some power lines, leading to charges against two men.
Carolyn Pope, 30, was reported missing by her grandmother on Oct. 13, the Hickman County Sheriff’s Office said in a Thursday statement.
Pope lived in Fairview with her grandma and 5-year-old daughter, according to WKRN in Nashville. Her family said she would never have vanished willingly. Investigators characterized the disappearance as “out of character” for Pope, according to the statement.
Any hope for her safe return was dashed Wednesday when her body was found by a power line easement in Hickman County, according to the sheriff's department. She had been wrapped in a blanket and hidden under a plastic sheet and debris near a wooded area, according to WKRN. A cause of death has not yet been determined.
While investigators are not calling her death a murder, they say that criminal activity was involved. Both Mitchell Hinderliter and Christopher Hall are expected to be charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and filing a false report. Both are currently jailed on unrelated charges, according to investigators. Further charges could come following the results of an autopsy.
It’s not clear if either of the men have lawyers who can speak on their behalf.
Pope was last seen at a home one day before she vanished, although it’s unclear whose residence it was. Pope’s car was recovered from Hinderliter’s property, however, according to WKRN.
Hinderliter’s brother Anthony Hinderliter told the outlet that his sibling “wouldn’t tell me nothing. He was being secretive, and I knew something was up.”
Pope’s family is now reeling after the discovery of her body.
“You know we were all praying for a miracle that she was going to come home, you know, that we were going to find her, that she was going to be ok, you know. Everybody was looking for her, everybody missed her. It’s just heartbreaking,” the victim’s sister-in-law Mary Gonzalez told WKRN.
She worries about how the Pope’s daughter will cope with the loss of her mother.
“I mean her mom was her superhero, she was her Super Woman,” she said.
