Cold Case of Missy Ward’s death solved

Chattanooga, TN (WDEF) – The Hamilton County District Attorney General’s Office has cleared another cold case.

Missy Ward died in October of 2004 at the hands of an unknown assailant, but that changed after new evidence was presented to the Grand Jury.

The exact date of Missy Ward’s death is unknown.

The 33-year old Chattanooga woman was last seen the night of October 29, 2004, getting into a pickup truck on East 23rd Street.

She was reported missing on November 2, 2004 and on December 5, 2004, her body was found on Cash Canyon Road in Lookout Valley.

Cold Case Investigator Mike Mathis says, “Brian Hoss, with Davis and Hoss, was surveying some land ..just walking it..looking at it to see if he wanted to purchase it , amd came upon the remains.”

That case went unsolved for years, until 2011 when fifty one year old Christopher Jeffre Johnson was convicted of kidnapping and rape of two teenage girls, one of them his niece.

He gave officers information about Missy Ward and earlier this years a grand jury indicted him for her murder.

HCSO Investigator Ric Whaley says, “We looked at a lot of suspects over the years, but this is, this is really the first concrete break we had in it.”

Johnson is already service 50 years in prison on the kidnapping charge.

The Cold Case team was asked why he decided to talk.

Whaley says, “I could give you a personal opinion. I believe it was guilt over the crimes he had just got committed..arrested for ..that he just committed and I think because of the family connection…with his niece ..had remorse.”

The Cold Case unit was formed by D.A. Neal Pinkston when he took office two years ago.

So far, it has cleared 5 cases; one of them dating back to 1972.

HCSO Chief Deputy Allen Branum says, “A lot of times resources are strained working cases..its hard to keep up with what we got going. So when you’re able to go back and work these cases and bring resolution, it kind of makes all the work they put in worthwhile.”

The DA’s office says Johnson will return to Hamilton County for initial court appearances.