TN TN - Sharon Kay Leinart, 58, Homeless, Knoxville, 23 Jan 2013

[Gardener1850]

Missing Person / NamUs #MP20176
SHARON KAY LEINART

Female, White / Caucasian
Height 5' 7" (67 Inches)
Weight 140 lbs

Hair Color Brown
Head Hair Description WEARS HATS AND SOMETIMES HER HAIR IS DYED RED OR STAWBERRY BLONDE
Eye Color Brown

Other distinctive physical characteristic
SHARON WILL WEAR A LOT OF BLUE EYE SHADOW AND WHEN SHE WEARS LIPSTICK SHE NORMALLY HAS LIPSTICK PAST HER LIPS AND SOME ON HER FACE.

Clothing
SHARON WILL WEAR SEVERAL DIFFERENT LAYERS OF CLOTHING INCLUDING JACKETS AND HATS.

Jewelry
SHARONS LIKES TO WEAR BRACELETS, NECKLACES, AND EAR RINGS.

Transportation Notes
SOMETIMES WILL RIDE LOCAL TRANSIT BUS

Last Known Location Map
Location KNOXVILLE, Tennessee 37918
Knox County


Circumstances of Disappearance
SHARON HAS REPORTEDLY BEEN HOMELESS IN THE LOCAL AREA BY CHOICE FOR THE LAST ELEVEN TO THIRTEEN YEARS.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[Jim_M]

What a sad story. Sending vibes of love her way.

 

[PayrollNerd]

Here’s a local news article from 2015:

WATE 6 On Your Side Staff - KNOXVILLE (WATE) - Police in Knoxville are still searching for a missing homeless woman who was last seen two years ago.

Sharon Leinart, 60, known on the street as Angela, has been homeless in Knoxville for more than a decade and never ventured away from the area. She has not been seen since January 23, 2013 when she said "a man offered her a nice warm room."

Police say Leinart gets a disability check that is direct-deposited into an account, but there has been no activity recorded on the account.

Her sister in Indiana, where Leinart is originally from, reported her missing.

Leinart is around 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 135 pounds. Her originally brown hair is dyed strawberry blond. She typically wears several layers of clothing, which usually consists of a hat, waist-length or long jackets and coats, blue jeans and sunglasses. She also wears a lot of blue eyeshadow, red blush, red nail polish and rings on her fingers. She is also known to smoke Marlboro cigarettes.

Police said at the time of her disappearance that it was abnormal not to see her around the Knoxville area. Officers began looking for her at that time, but she has not been located.

Anyone with information is asked to call the KPD crime hotline at (865) 215-7212.

Knoxville police still searching for homeless woman missing for 2 years

 

[PayrollNerd]

Here’s a local news article from 2013:

KNOXVILLE — Knoxville police are searching for a missing homeless woman who hasn’t accessed her checking account since February, officials said.

Sharon Leinart, also known on the street as Angela, has been homeless in the Knoxville area for about 11 to 13 years and has not ventured away from this area, according to a news release from Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk.

DeBusk said it is abnormal not to see her around the Knoxville area. Leinart gets a disability check that is direct-deposited into an account, but the account has had no activity the last three months, the spokesman said.

Leinart has not been seen since Jan. 23. At the time, she apparently told acquaintances a man had offered her a room.

She was reported missing by her sister in Indiana, DeBusk said.

Leinart, 58, is white, stands 5 feet, 7 inches, weighs 135 pounds, has brown eyes and dyed strawberry blond, shoulder-length, straight hair.

Police said she has a medium complexion and typically wears several layers of clothing typically consisting of any kind of hat, waist-length or long jackets and coats, blue jeans, and sunglasses.

DeBusk said the woman also wears a lot of blue eye shadow and red blush and usually wears rings and red nail polish. She smokes Marlboro cigarettes, officials said.

Anyone with information on Leinart or her whereabouts is asked to contact 865-215-7212.

More details as they develop online and in Saturday’s News Sentinel.

Police search for missing homeless Knoxville woman

 

[PayrollNerd]

There are a number of people in the area with the last name Leinart. I wonder if that is her birth name or if it’s a married name. If she’s willingly living on the streets for 11-13 years, that would put her homeless about 2000-2002. The economy bombed in 2001 and stayed suppressed for years. It is possible she lost her home and job, lost health insurance for mental health meds, had no financial safety net or no immediate family that could help. This is such a sad story. Maybe her family will do genealogy and provide DNA at some point.

 

[Gardener1850]

Deleted by me.

(On second glance, I'm not sure if that record is the same Sharon Leinart. There is a lawsuit appeal filed in 1996 by someone with her name who is about the right age, but I'm not sure it's her.)

 

[PayrollNerd]

Updated in May 2013. I wonder if she is maybe an unidentified person somewhere. Too many murders of homeless people in the area.

KPD looking for homeless woman who hasn't been seen since January

A woman Knoxville Police say has been visible in the community for more than a decade is missing.

Sharon Leinhart, also known as Angela, lived on Knoxville's streets for around 12 years until she went missing in January.

KPD said there's no evidence that she has been harmed, but it has the homeless community on edge.

Her disappearance comes on the heels of four murders of homeless people this year alone.

Michael Davis is homeless. He works by selling a newspaper written by the homeless, The Amplifier. He said for years he saw Leinhart on a regular basis.

"She'd sit on the trolley stop most of the time. Not bothering people. Just real quiet," he said. "But I haven't seen her in at least five or six months that I know of."

"There's a lot of people that know her. A lot of people that will recognize her when they see her picture," said KPD spokesperson, Darrell DeBusk.

DeBusk said Leinhart's sister called KPD a few weeks ago to report her missing.

"We're growing concerned that she may be in danger since it has been so long with no contact and that's not like her. It's out of character," said DeBusk.

KPD says they've followed all leads only to find dead ends. There's been no activity in her bank account for three months.

 

[Bit of hope]

There are a number of people in the area with the last name Leinart. I wonder if that is her birth name or if it’s a married name. If she’s willingly living on the streets for 11-13 years, that would put her homeless about 2000-2002. The economy bombed in 2001 and stayed suppressed for years. It is possible she lost her home and job, lost health insurance for mental health meds, had no financial safety net or no immediate family that could help. This is such a sad story. Maybe her family will do genealogy and provide DNA at some point.

I once checked if there was DNA available for Sharon on The Lost and Found website, that is down now.

The Lost and Found website (that was using the Namus files with the identifiers shown, when Namus decided to not show them anymore) her DNA was: Test complete - sample submitted

 

[PayrollNerd]

At what point did Knoxville transit buses have cameras? I wonder if they were ever able to figure out when she last rode a public bus.

Transportation Notes
SOMETIMES WILL RIDE LOCAL TRANSIT BUS

 

[PayrollNerd]

I wonder if this is her. I don't have a subscription so I can only see what populates on a Google search.

Lake City, TN is 25 miles NW of Knoxville. That wouldn't be unreasonable for her to relocate that close.

I scratched out the first names of people for privacy. I wonder if these people are siblings, parents or children.

The other spelling "Sherron" instead of the traditional spelling is interesting.

Sharon Leinart, Tennessee (3 matches): Phone Number, Email, Address - Spokeo

 

[Banney]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Link above is for unidentified remains found in Knoxville.

I wonder if this is her. I don't have a subscription so I can only see what populates on a Google search.

Lake City, TN is 25 miles NW of Knoxville. That wouldn't be unreasonable for her to relocate that close.

I scratched out the first names of people for privacy. I wonder if these people are siblings, parents or children.

The other spelling "Sherron" instead of the traditional spelling is interesting.

Sharon Leinart, Tennessee (3 matches): Phone Number, Email, Address - Spokeo

View attachment 271341

 

[tarabull]

WATE 6 On Your Side: Sharon Leinart: Missing from Knoxville for 9 years.

Sharon Leinart: Missing from Knoxville for 9 years

The last time Sharon Leinart’s sister heard from her, Sharon said she had been picked up by someone and family presumed she was staying at their home. n the nine year since then, there has be…

www.wate.com

 

[MajorHoople]

KPD continues search for Sharon Leinart, who disappeared in 2013

Jul 18, 2022

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[Bit of hope]

The body of Brenda Baker Germann (was found as an UID in 2016 (after last contact with her in the summer of 2014, PMI years) behind 509 Cooper street in Knoxville, what is basically on the opposite of the street of the Salvation Army (less then a 6 minutes walk) where Sharon Leinart was used to frequent. Could there be some kind of connection? Someone who was/is preying on middle aged homeless women.

Identified! - TN - Knoxville, WhtFem UP15118, 55-65, star patterned scarf, Feb'16 - Brenda Kaye Baker-Germann

In the Netherland we have Kema Keur...that's why it did ring a bell, but I'm totally unsure if this has anything to do with her bag. KEMA-KEUR - Wikipedia

www.websleuths.com

 

[Unalienable Rights]

https://www.wate.com/news/top-stories/man-pleads-guilty-to-murder-in-decade-old-knoxville-missing-persons-case/

February 7, 2025

A man who was already serving a life sentence for first-degree murder has pleaded guilty to another murder charge in connection to a 2013 missing persons case.

According to Knox County District Attorney Charme Allen’s office, Randall Lee Rose, 62, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison.

*****
In October 2023, detectives with the Jackson Police Department were interviewing Rose about a separate homicide in Madison County when he confessed to killing a woman ten years earlier at the Sunset Motel in Knoxville, Allen’s office stated.

*****
In December 2024, Rose was indicted in the death of Sharon Leinart. One of the interesting factors about the charge was that Leinart was reported missing on March 26, 2013, but her body had not been recovered at the time of the indictment.

Rose is currently serving another life sentence for a first-degree murder case out of Madison County, the DA’s office said.

There is more in the linked article.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

In October 2021, 6 News reported on a search for Rose, as the Knox and Madison County sheriff’s offices were asking residents to be on the lookout for him in relation to the murder of a 70-year-old woman in Jackson, Tennessee. At the time, officials shared that Rose had a long criminal history, including arrests and convictions for convictions for rape, assault, burglary, evading arrest and firearms charges

https://www.wate.com/news/top-stories/man-pleads-guilty-to-murder-in-decade-old-knoxville-missing-persons-case/

 

[mlhenn]

Sharon Kay Leinart – The Charley Project

Last updated February 11, 2025; details of disappearance updated.

Details of Disappearance​

Leinart was last seen in Knoxville, Tennessee on January 26, 2013. She spoke to her sister and said she'd been picked up by a man who offered her "a nice warm room" and she was staying at that person's home. She has never been heard from again. Her sister, who lives in Indiana, reported her missing on March 26.

Leinart was homeless at the time of her disappearance and was known to frequent the areas around the Salvation Army and KARM near downtown Knoxville. Her only source of income was a disability check which was direct-deposited into her bank account; there has been no activity on her account since she was last seen. She had previously been a registered nurse and paramedic, and a member of the Civil Air Patrol.

In December 2024, Randall Lee Rose was indicted for first-degree murder in Leinart's death. At the time of his indictment, he was serving a life sentence for another woman's murder that happened in 2021. Authorities stated that in 2023, while they were interviewing Rose about the 2021 homicide, he suddenly confessed to killing another woman, Leinart, at the Sunset Motel in Knoxville.

He said he had strangled her and then hidden her body off Chapman Highway. He has a long criminal history including convictions for rape, assault, firearms charges and burglary. In February 2025, Rose pleaded guilty to Leinart's murder and was sentenced to a second term of life in prison.

Her body has never been found.