Woman’s body found in Cummins Falls park

COOKEVILLE — A body found at Cummins Falls State Park amidst the ongoing search for a missing 73-year-old woman has been identified by state authorities as Lisa Michelle Hillian, 45, of Sale Creek.

According to Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Susan Niland, Hillian’s body was recovered about 9 a.m. Thursday by a search team looking for Peggy McDaniel, who disappeared just one day earlier at Cummins Falls State Park.

Hillian, who family said goes by Missy, was found in the Blackburn Fork State Scenic River by park rangers and volunteers on kayaks downstream of the falls near Cookeville — about 100 miles east of Nashville.

Crews had been searching for McDaniel, reported missing after flash flooding stranded her and dozens of other park visitors on Wednesday. The park remained closed Friday as crews entered their third day of the search.

Hillian’s mother-in-law, Rhonda Hillian, of Dayton, Tenn., said Missy went to the falls in an attempt to help locate the missing woman.

“We don’t know if she fell, or for sure what happened,” she said of her daughter-in-law, who was mother to a 9-year-old boy with her stepson, Allan Hillian.

Hillian worked for CAS Iberia in Sale Creek, an importer of replica swords, knives and re-enactment gear created worldwide.

On its Facebook page, the company said Hillian had worked there for nearly two decades. The statement said CAS has lost “our dear friend and sister” and added, “Her impact on this industry and the individual lives of those she touched is immeasurable.”

Jackson County EMA Director Keith Bean said Hillian was not with the official search party.

“She came in on her own … and she was there after we left,” Bean said.

Officials said an autopsy will be performed by the Medical Examiner’s Office to determine Hillian’s cause of death.

“We called for [TBI] assistance earlier [Thursday] once the body recovered wasn’t the elderly woman,” said Jackson County Sheriff Marty Hinson, whose agency is

“We don’t know if she fell, or for sure what happened.” — RHONDA HILLIAN, MOTHER-INLAW OF MICHELLE HILLIAN

involved in the search. “We were thinking that we only had one body.”

As of Friday afternoon, Bean said crews continued to search several miles of Middle Tennessee riverbanks below the park’s falls.

“The water levels are higher than they were yesterday morning,” he said. “Yesterday they went down quite a bit and we covered 4 to 5 miles downstream, but it’s a whole new ballgame now.”

Bean said along with crews kayaking the river, emergency officials are using helicopters and drones, and even have people walking on land.

“We will find her,” Bean said. “It will take us a while, but we will find her.”

McDaniel disappeared in the water Wednesday after a wave of storms moved through the area. Authorities believe she slipped and fell on the rocks during the storm.

Rescue crews responded to the area about midday Wednesday after dozens of people became trapped by swift, high-rising water, Hinson said.

More than two dozen people were rescued on the side of a gorge as well as from an island in the middle of the creek. Others trapped downstream from the falls were also rescued — some by Tennessee Highway Patrol helicopters.

No other serious injuries were reported.

Contact Jason Gonzales at jagonzales @tennessean.com or on Twitter @ByJasonGonzales.