Identified! TN - Whitesburg, UnkSex&Race, UP73384, buried on private prop, poss Leroy James Chamberlain, Aug'20 - NamUs removed

[Romulus]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

The believed-to-be decedent's wife claimed decedent died on 03/21/2019 of natural causes and buried him on her property. Decedent was buried next to a spring and the changing water level caused most of the remains to be swept away. The investigating agency will be re-investigating the area sometime in Fall 2020 to search for additional remains.

 

[Panhypopit]

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

 

[madamx]

This is so weird.. so his wife buried him in the backyard but never told anybody and then said he moved.. hmmm

 

[iulia]

The NamUs page for these remains is down.

ETA Leroy Chamberlin's NamUs page has also been removed. I can't find any news about the identification yet.

 

[heartanium]

LE confirmed that these remains were indeed Leroy's in this article. His wife is now facing charges for abuse of a corpse and fraud.

" 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."

Sauceman 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.

“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."