The Oldest Cold Case To Be Solved In The U.S. Is Finally Over in Polk County

     The State of Tennessee officially recognizes the efforts of a dozen people who were part of the nation's oldest missing persons case that was solved.
     Speaker of the house Kent Williams joined Represenative Eric Watson at Parksville Lake Dam.
     That's where the remains of 26 year old Kathleen Wrinkle were recovered from her sunken car last year.
     Law enforcement officers, fire and rescue teams and volunteers from three counties got honored with a proclamation.
      Also saluted were the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency and private citizens who provided clues.
     Kathleen Wrinkle disappeared on a cold February morning in 1956.

     It was a series of coincidences..and just plain luck that led to the discovery of the young woman's remains in the lake.
     WDEF News 12's Bill Mitchell talks with those who were part of the search...

Evelyn Wrinkle Cross agonized for years over the disappearance of her aunt...Kathleen Wrinkle.  She, or her remains had to be close by..she was just going to work as an IBM machine operator down highway 64. 
But her niece remembered some things that help solve the mystery.

SOT---EVELYN WRINKLY CROSS, NIECE  IN:01:27:58  "they kept asking me how I could remember everything,,I said if that day was burned into your memory..you'd remember it, too." 

Benton police chief Rocky King says some young divers came to tell him they wanted to begin the search on their own.

SOT---CHIEF ROCKY KING, BENTON, TN IN:01:36:11 "they went up there diving and that's when they located the initial bone."

Those divers are brothers Shawn and Shane Ashley and their cousin Justin Miller who located a femur. But it was all just luck.   

SOT---JUSTIN MILLER, VOLUNTEER DIVER IN:01:53:29  "one time moving silt around and ran across her bumper..and from there we started digging the car out." 

SOT--DET. KEN RITENOUR, WEST POLK FIRE & RESCUE   IN:01:49:08  "the car never showed up on anybody's side scanner so nobody knew it was there."

Bradley county  Sgt. Bill Coultry, who was recovering from gunshot wounds suffered in the line of duty..was in charge of the overall effort. 

SOT---SGT. BILL COULTRY, BRADLEY CO. SHERIFF'S DEPT. IN:01:51:42  "when they dug that car our we had 60% of the skeletal remains."

But, Evelyn had no doubts even before U-T Knoxville confirmed the identity. This is what proved it to her... Brownie film camera recovered from the silt...a camera that once belonged to her. 
They had found Kathleen..53 years after her car disappeared in Parksville Lake.

SOT---EVELYN   IN:01:26:56  "i'm just so grateful for all these people who have worked so hard to solve it."  

IN Polk county, Bill Mitchell...with photographer Allen Fairbanks, WDEF News 12.

     There were many others who helped solve that mystery..not the least of which was Cleveland Daily Banner reporter Greg Kaylor.
     In 2006, he searched the newspaper archives,  and urged authorities to begin looking for the missing woman.