Tennessee man identified four decades after his killing, TBI says
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has identified a murder victim whose skeletal remains were found more than 40 years ago in rural East Tennessee.
Kenneth Levall Thompson, of Detroit, Michigan, was named as part of the TBI’s Human Remains DNA Initiative, the agency announced Wednesday.
Thompson’s bones were discovered Aug. 26, 1983 in a wooded area about 25 feet from Sycamore Lane in Crossville.
A forensic pathologist determined that the remains were those of a black male, likely between the ages of 20-25. Thompson had been stabbed multiple times and his death was ruled a homicide.
Despite not knowing Thompson’s identity at the time, TBI and the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, where Crossville is located, developed a suspect in the case.
In May 1984, Michael Lee Carmack was charged and later pled guilty to second degree murder in exchange for a 20year prison sentence, a Cumberland County Court clerk confirmed Wednesday.
Early identification attempts proved unsuccessful
In 2007, the University of Tennessee Forensic Anthropology Center submitted a sample of Thompson’s remains to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification. A DNA profile was developed and entered into the Combined DNA Index System and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System in the hopes that Thompson would eventually be identified.
But no matches were made.
Familial connection established
In December, TBI agents submitted a sample of Thompson’s remains to Othram Laboratories in Texas for forensic genetic genealogical DNA testing, and scientists provided information about possible relatives.
Using that information, a TBI intelligence analyst was able to locate potential family members in Michigan. After making contact, the family member confirmed he had a brother he hadn’t heard from in four decades. Agents were able to obtain a familial DNA standard, which was submitted to Othram Inc. for comparison against Thompson’s DNA.
TBI said investigators hope the identification will provide answers for Thompson’s family, who last had contact with him in the early 1980’s. The only photo his surviving family members have of him is from when he was a child.
TBI is requesting anyone who knew Thompson during his life or have photographs of him taken between late 1970 or early 1980, to contact 1-800-TBIFIND.