A man described by police as an illegal immigrant has been charged with first-degree murder in the strangulation of a former Waterloo homecoming queen, authorities said today.
Valentino Vasquez Miranda, 19, was served with the arrest warrant this morning in a Knoxville, Tenn., jail.
First-degree murder, which is also known as felony murder in Tennessee, carries a possible death sentence.
He is accused of breaking into Jennifer Lee Hampton’s room at Days Inn in west Knoxville during the early morning hours of Sept. 20. Police say he killed Hampton and placed her body in Melton Hill Lake.
A fisherman found Hampton’s body Saturday near the lake’s shore.
A preliminary autopsy report revealed that Hampton, 21, was strangled to death.
Her body was returned to the Shoals this morning, with the hearse being escorted much of the way by Lauderdale County sheriff’s deputies and other police and emergency agencies.
A memorial service is scheduled for Thursday night at Morrison Funeral Home in Central Heights.
An affidavit filed today by Knoxville police investigator William Still provided detail about the case and why Miranda was charged.
Miranda worked and lived at the motel and has been in police custody since Sept. 20, the day Hampton was reported missing. He was taken into custody at that time on a forgery charge after providing police with a bogus Social Security card. The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has required Miranda to remain in jail during the investigation process.
Based on the affidavit, Hampton’s room was “found to be in disarray and evidence in the room indicated foul play.”
Still lists two things as being critical to Miranda becoming the suspect:
* Miranda’s wife, Rosa Rodriquez Hernandez, who is also an employee at Days Inn, turned over bloody clothing to police that belonged to her husband. She told police that her husband was wearing the clothes during the early morning hours of Sept. 20.
Forensic tests revealed that it was Hampton’s blood on the clothing, police say.
* A check of Miranda’s motel key card determined that it had been used “in the early morning hours of Sept. 20 to unlock the victim’s room,” according to Still’s affidavit.
Miranda is being held on a $1 million bond. Police officials say they are still trying to determine where Miranda lived before arriving in Knoxville.
Hampton and three co-workers at Mama Blue’s restaurant in Florence were in Knoxville to train the staff that is preparing to open another franchise there.
http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20081001/NEWS/810010296/1011/NEWS?Title=Autopsy_shows_Hampton_was_strangled__Man_charged_with_murder
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