Found Deceased TN - Leroy Chamberlin, missing in 2019, remains found buried in yard in 2020, Hamblen County

[Dylansmom08]

https://www.wate.com/news/top-stori...i-agents-investigating-a-missing-person-case/

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

From what I can gather from this news article and NamUs Leroy James Chamberlain passed away at his home and instead of calling police, ambulance or even a funeral home his wife decides to bury him in the yard and tell no one. Mr. Chamberlain's family reported him missing in July and initially his wife told LE that her husband had moved to Florida with a friend. After further investigation they determined that was not the truth and upon searching the property they found his remains buried next to a spring. Due to rising water levels the grave had been washed out and most of his remains could not be found. Authorities will return in the fall to search again in hopes of recovering the rest of his remains.
In this article it states that no charges have been filed and foul play is not suspected but I would be really shocked if they don't end up charging her with something. This whole thing is really bizarre who does that? Just bury someone in the yard without the proper funeral preparations or even notifying anyone of the death. I have never heard of such a case.

 

[Tattarattat]

Peculiar, in that she lied about him being in FL initially. If no foul play, was she just frightened after some thought, knowing that this might be illegal in her area? Did she divulge the truth to concerned family eventually? I would have needed assistance to dig and lay someone to rest. Did she?

This link shares that you can, indeed, bury someone on your personal property in Tennessee, though it is advised to contact the town and county clerk, as well as the local health dept for specific town rules:
Burial and Cremation Laws in Tennessee

 

[Dylansmom08]

Yes you can bury someone on your property but I always thought that you had to have them embalmed and placed in a casket first. I think she finally admitted to him being on the property when LE showed up with a search warrant but I haven't found an article to support that just my thoughts on how that came to be known.

 

[lymom3]

My first thought was perhaps there was retirement/social security income coming in his name that she didn't want to or couldn't afford to lose.

 

[Dylansmom08]

My first thought was perhaps there was retirement/social security income coming in his name that she didn't want to or couldn't afford to lose.

Yes I was wondering about that to if that is the case there might be charges coming from that in the future. Pretty sure the government doesn't like it when people steal their money.

 

[Tattarattat]

Oh, my. I admittedly didn’t even think of money being a motive for not sharing regarding his death date. I didn’t want to jump to more sinister thoughts, but the social security or pension fund type scenario may be a better thought than my next one, which was related to possible abuse or other unhealthy home relationship and maybe an homage to “9 to 5”, rat poison in the morning coffee sort of scenario.

I do maintain that she probably didn’t bury him without assistance.
ETA: I hope we learn that they are still investigating and it results in some answers. My sympathies to his family that now likely feels betrayed.

 

[musicaljoke]

Yes you can bury someone on your property but I always thought that you had to have them embalmed and placed in a casket first. I think she finally admitted to him being on the property when LE showed up with a search warrant but I haven't found an article to support that just my thoughts on how that came to be known.

I haven't heard of any place where it is permitted to bury a person on your private property, but apparently it may be allowed in some places, including Tenessee.

Burial Laws by State » Coeio

Tennessee

Most bodies are buried in cemeteries, but there are no state laws in Tennessee that prohibit burial on private property. However, it is recommended that you check local zoning laws before establishing a home cemetery or burying on private land. Additionally, embalming is not required. Refrigeration serves the same purpose. A casket is also not required for burial by state law, but cemeteries may have their own individual policies for containers

 

[Tattarattat]

This is an interesting article regarding the encouragement of some East TN folks back to natural burial. It does allude to more evidence that embalming is not required throughout the state, for one thing.
No casket, no cost: Tennesseans go back to 'natural' burial

My former in-law recently had someone come survey his 200+acre land for a burial plot for him. He’s not in TN, but I do not believe he requires any embalming either. He did register the plot on his land deed, I believe, as that was required. It should be noted we differ wildly in opinions on life matters, but I can appreciate his desire to simply be laid in the earth on the ground he has literally busted up his body to maintain. I say this to say, if the county/state had said “no” to his desire....he would have done it anyway. I can imagine his wife’s despair as she would have called my ex spouse in a spiral of anxiety demanding he come bury his grandfather “NOW” and don’t tell anyone about it.

Perhaps there is some kind of similar personal wish(or demand) of her husband’s that she felt she was honoring.

 

[MajorHoople]

My first thought was perhaps there was retirement/social security income coming in his name that she didn't want to or couldn't afford to lose.

Yes, that would be my guess as well. When a family member of mine passed away I was surprised to find out that the mortuary reported his death to the Social Security Administration.

It used to be that the surviving family members did that. Which means that it's getting harder to cheat the government.

 

[Dylansmom08]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Here is the missing person file for Mr. Chamberlin I find it interesting the detailed story she gave initially and how she changes her story as time goes on. I was originally thinking that maybe she didn't fully know what she was doing possibly her mind wasn't quite right but this sounds like she knew exactly what was going on with the lies and changes to her story over time. Really starting to look like she hid his body for the social security check but I question wether she could have dug a grave, moved his body and covered him up all by herself. I don't know how old this woman is or what shape she is in health wise but that seems like a two person job to me.

 

[Tattarattat]

Snipped for focus by me:

This was my true first thought about this case. She needed assistance.


Edit: I tried to quote some of your post, Dylansmom, and it went haywire. Apologies for the strange formatting it took, but it was where you referenced it seeming like a two person job.

 

[Panhypopit]

Hamblen County officials searching for man missing for more than a year
the wife stated that Leroy went to Florida...

 

[iulia]

Leroy's NamUs page has been removed.

Missing Person / NamUs #MP71832

View NamUs missing person case MP71832 for Leroy James Chamberlin missing from Whitesburg, Tennessee. Date of last contact: Mar 01, 2019. NCMEC case number: --.

namus.nij.ojp.gov

 

[heartanium]

He was confirmed to be the body in the backyard

 

[cheemsg]

He was confirmed to be the body in the backyard

Do you have a transcript of the article? Blocked in my region.

 

[heartanium]

Do you have a transcript of the article? Blocked in my region.

A Whitesburg woman has been indicted when authorities said she buried her husband in the back yard without notifying anyone beforehand.

Shawna Reneah Chamberlain, 40, of St. Clair Road, faces a charge of abuse of a corpse. She is also facing federal fraud charges due to social security fraud, authorities said.

Hamblen County Detective George Sauceman said Wednesday that they do not think Shawna Chamberlain deliberately killed her husband, Leroy Chamberlain, 72.

“We don’t think she had anything to do with his death,” Sauceman said. “He had poor health.”

Leroy Chamberlain was first reported missing by a niece in June 2020. According to a report, the niece said she had not heard from Leroy in almost a year and when she spoke with Shawna she was given excuses on why he would not come to the phone.

Investigators spoke with Shawna who told them he said he wasn’t happy, packed his bags and left and she thought that happened around March 2019.

Her story kept changing throughout the investigation, authorities said.

In August, the case unfolded when Hamblen County detectives and TBI agents found remains buried in the back of the St. Clair property.

auceman said Shawna Chamberlain had finally confessed to what happened.

“She woke up and found he died in his sleep and she panicked,” he said.

She then took their two children, a boy and girl, to school. When she got back, she buried Leroy Chamberlain in the back yard, fearing authorities may think she was involved.

Sauceman said he finally was able to get an indication of where Leroy Chamberlain was buried.

“I drew a map of her house and she was able to tell me where she buried her husband,” he said.

Investigators were able to find remains using ground penetrating radar and the remains were sent to laboratories to be tested.

Shawna Chamberlain now faces a court date on Aug. 6 related to the Social Security fraud charges. Authorities said she had not alerted Social Security concerning his death and was still receiving checks until the time Leroy’s remains were discovered.