Case Number: 04-087386
Race: White
Sex: Female
DOB: 04-12-1971
Age: 33
Height: 5’1”
Weight: 90
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown
Case Status: Unsolved
On 11-02-04 Melissa Michelle Ward was reported missing to the Chattanooga Police Department.
Ms. Ward had been arrested in the past on prostitution and drug charges and her death may have been related to association with criminals
Missy was last seen on 10-29-04 at about 1900 hours, when she got into a late model red Ford Pick-up Truck with a white camper top, at the BI-Lo parking lot on 23rd Street. The drive of the vehicle was described as a W/M, salt and pepper hair, in his 50’s. Missy was last seen wearing a blue dress and no shoes.
On December 05, 2004 the decomposed body of Melissa Ward was found on Cash Canyon Road.
From the News Channel 3 web site
HAMILTON COUNTY, TN. (WRCB) -- A man charged with raping two young girls this summer is being looked at in connection with a murder from six years ago.
Earlier this month 46-year-old Christopher Johnson was charged with allegedly raping and kidnapping a relative and one of her friends.
Channel 3 and our partners at the Times Free Press have learned from multiple sources that Johnson has been interviewed in connection with the murder of Melissa 'Missy' Ward.
Ward's remains were found in a remote area of Lookout Valley in 2004. Her case went cold until two weeks ago when the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office suddenly reopened it.
Dawn Johnson says she was shocked to learn her sister's 6-year-old murder case was not only reopened, but that detectives interviewed a man she's never heard of before.
"She looked up to me," Johnson says. "She would say all the time that she wanted to be like me."
The last few weeks have been bittersweet for Johnson.
"I'm excited because hopefully we'll have closure," she says. "Hopefully they'll catch the person that did this."
Two weeks ago, after receiving new information, detectives searched the area off Cash Canyon Road where Ward's remains were found in 2004.
Johnson says investigators told her in 2004 they were looking for a serial killer."They were telling us it could be a serial killer," she says.
The Sheriff's Office won't officially go that far. Johnson says her sister had a drug problem and one prostitution arrest in Hamilton County, but that shouldn't matter.
"She didn't die because she was a prostitute or a drug addict," Johnson says. "She died because she was with the wrong person."
After two days of searching the woods again, detectives pulled out. Sheriff Hammond won't say exactly what someone said that led them back to the original crime scene.
"There's some sensitive information that we need to keep quiet about for the case," Hammond says. "We can't comment."
Although the sheriff's office won't officially name a suspect, Channel 3 has learned from multiple sources that Christopher Johnson has been interviewed in connection with the murder.
To Dawn Johnson it's all still an unfolding mystery. She just wants to know what happened.
"You see on TV people say 'why'," Johnson says. "You think, 'that's so crazy', but I want to know why she was targeted."
Johnson says her sister was last seen getting into a red pick-up truck outside a grocery story.
Christopher Johnson appeared in court two weeks ago on his latest charges, he is still in custody.
From the Chattanoogan.com site
Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office investigators are looking into new evidence involving the 2004 murder of Melissa Ward. They are also searching for the possiiblity of additional bodies near where that of Ms. Ward was found in the Tennessee River Gorge. On Thursday, prisoners helped clear a wooded area at the search site.
On Dec. 5, 2004, bones were located at 1580 Cash Canyon Road in a wooded area that were later identified through a forensic examination as belonging to Ms. Ward.
The victim had been reported missing by her family to law enforcement on Nov. 2, 2004.
Authorities said, "A ground search is being conducted of the area where Melissa Ward’s remains were located in December 2004. Interviews with persons of interest are being conducted by investigators in an attempt to bring closure to this active homicide investigation."
The body had been found by attorney Bryan Hoss in a remote area off Cash Canyon Road. A month later, then-Sheriff John Cupp said it was that of 33-year-old Melissa Michelle Ward.
He said Ms. Ward had been arrested in the past on prostitution and drug charges. He said her death may have been related to association with criminals.
Sheriff Cupp said she had been murdered.
Attorney Hoss and his wife were looking at a lot near the Tennessee River that was for sale.
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