Thursday, June 11, 2009
(Last modified: 2009-06-11 11:01:45)
 
Author: Nelson Morais
Source: The Newport Plain Talk

NEWPORT- The family of Megan Maxwell is organizing a love chain event this afternoon in her honor.

Maxwell, 19, disappeared early Sunday morning on April 26 east of Newport. Her Mitsubishi Eclipse vehicle was found burned up. She has apparently not been seen since that morning.

The love chain will be held starting at 4 p.m. today in the parking lot in front of Food City West in Western Plaza.

Family members are encouraging community members to participate to make the chain as long as possible.

In another development, one and possibly more cadaver searching dogs will be used with heavy equipment on Saturday, June 13, to determine if the body of Megan Maxwell is in a section of the TIDI Waste landfill in Hamblen County, according to Newport Police Chief Maurice Shults.

Searchers will use heavy equipment and at least one dog to search an area 90 feet by 100 feet, with a depth from zero to 10 feet, Shults said.

"You're talking about thousands and thousands of tons of garbage" to sift through, Shults said.

Chief Shults praised the cooperative efforts of Patrick McGuffin, owner of the landfill, to identify and close off a section of the landfill that will be searched.

"He has been patient and diligent in searching the location" of the landfill that law enforcement officials say could contain Maxwell's body, Shults said.

 "They (TIDI Waste) have gone above and beyond what was asked in securing an area" for searchers, Shults added.

The police chief said one search dog is being used on loan from a "premier" company out of Maine called Merrill Investigations. He said this morning he was hopeful more than one dog from a search and rescue group will be available to use on Saturday in order to not overburden the one dog available so far.

 "We'll have at least one dog" when the search takes place, Shults said this week.

Meanwhile, Jeffrey Lee Stock, 41, as of this morning remained classified as "a person of interest," and not a suspect, in Maxwell's disappearance.

The Tennessee Sexual Offender Registry Web site, compiled by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, lists Stock as having a "primary residential address" of  "1770 Fisher Bin Way" in Del Rio. That may be a reference to Fisher Vin Road.

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