Robert Leonard: Tennessee deputy discovered dead in submerged police car with arrested woman in backseat

TENNESSEE: A Tennessee woman was discovered dead in the backseat of a submerged police patrol car, with missing Deputy Robert RJ Leonard from the Meigs County Sheriff's Office' body discovered in the river.

The unsettling sequence of events began when Deputy Leonard made a final call to dispatch on Wednesday evening, February 14, uttering the word 'water' before abruptly losing all communication.

Deputy Robert Leonard's arrest leads to tragic end

Earlier that night, Leonard had responded to a report of a disturbance on a bridge, where he took a woman into custody. On Thursday, recovery efforts led to the extraction of the deputy's patrol car from the Tennessee River. Shockingly, a body, believed to be that of the arrested woman, was found in the submerged vehicle.

Hours later, Leonard's own lifeless body was discovered near the location where his cruiser was recovered.

While authorities are still working to officially confirm the identity of the woman found in the patrol car, Meigs County District Attorney Russell Johnson indicated a strong belief that it is the same woman Leonard had arrested. Describing the grim scene, Johnson stated, "There was a whole lot of mud. There is a body in the backseat of the car covered by a lot of mud. A lot of mud on the front seat, but [there's] no body in the front seat."

The strong current and murky water made it challenging for search parties to promptly confirm whether the second body belonged to Deputy Leonard. The deceased cop, who had recently graduated from the training academy in December, had become a cherished member of the sheriff's office in just a few months.

Who was Deputy Robert Leonard?

Chief Deputy Brian Malone expressed the profound impact of Leonard's short tenure, stating, "Deputy Leonard had only been here for a couple of months, but he had become a part of our family," as per Daily Mail. The circumstances leading to the officers disappearance and the tragic discovery are still under investigation.

Leonard's final radio call, where he mentioned "water," required authorities to use 'special techniques' to decipher. "Dispatch couldn't tell what he was saying," Johnson stated. "We think he was saying, 'Water.''' Initial findings suggest that Leonard may have been distracted while driving on a treacherous road, possibly texting and talking on the radio.

"They are not well lit. They are not well marked. They are narrow. If he's not paying attention, he could hit that water pretty quick," Johnson claimed. "We're operating under the theory that it was an accident - he missed his turn, he wasn't familiar, and he was doing other things that may have caused him to go into the water."