Forty-two volunteers and officials from multiple departments spent the day Saturday searching for clues in the disappearance of a woman atop Camp Creek Bald.
Members of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department and Greeneville Emergency & Rescue Squad, along with the Newport, Hawkins County, Jefferson County, Church Hill Rescue Squads all participated. The search area also included the mountains on the North Carolina side, and included the Laurel Fire Department, and the Madison County Rescue and Sheriff’s Department, and the US Forest Service.
Over 130 acres if forest and trail areas were searched along the Appalachian Trail near the top of Camp Creek Bald and the Viking Mountain area. The search grid was based on data from lost person’s behavior studies, and teams were broken out into grids. Search operations began around 9:00 AM and continued until after 6:00 pm.
The search was for 31 year-old Jennifer Elliott. Elliot went missing on March 22, 2024, after reaching out to family for a ride due to her vehicle being stuck on Viking Mountain. Law enforcement searched for her that day but were unable to find her. They did however find and speak with her boyfriend, who was located by her vehicle. He said Elliot ran off into the woods. Hikers on the Appalachian Trail also reported seeing a woman matching Elliott’s description and said the woman appeared to be trying to hide from them.
Elliot was not officially reported missing until May 2nd. Greene County Detective Toby Price said that Elliot was reportedly believed to be living in Sevier County before she went missing. She was not particularly close with her local family and was not in frequent contact with them, so it was not rare that they did not remain in contact after March 22nd.
Her boyfriend was arrested day she went missing by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office on an outstanding warrant. On April 13th he was transferred to the jail in Sevier County on separate warrants and was not released until April 30th, according to Price. Elliot’s boyfriend thought she would be waiting for him when he was released from jail but she wasn’t. After checking in with friends and her family on her whereabouts, no one had heard from her since the day she went missing.
Price informed us that foul play is not suspected at this time but cannot be ruled out. He hopes Elliot is staying with a friend and hasn’t realized she was reported missing yet.
