Hotel Worker Charged With Murder of Waitress

Jennifer Lee Hampton, in a photo with family members, went missing in Knoxville, Tenn., Sept. 19, 2008.

(Hampton Family/WATE TV)

'I Love You'

Daniel said Hampton last spoke with her mother around 11:30 p.m. Friday night. The two were looking forward to going to a local fair on Sunday when Hampton got home.

Hampton's mother told her daughter, "I love you. I'll see you Sunday," Daniel said.

The family and police are also looking into whether Hampton talked to or text-messaged a friend of hers Friday night.

Hampton and her co-workers were supposed to have returned to Alabama Friday, Daniel said, but their employers allegedly asked them to stay until Sunday.

Jim Lewis, who was identified as the owner of the Mama Blues Southern Cafe by a worker who answered the phone there, did not answer his phone Wednesday and does not have voice mail.

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Part of a close-knit family that spoke often, Hampton, called "Jenny" by friends and family, had recently been accepted into a program to become a registered nurse.

Funeral services will be held Thursday at the Baptist church the family attended.

Quiet, but Well-Liked

Hampton, who had been voted homecoming queen by the student body during her senior year at Waterloo High School, was a quiet person who surrounded herself with friends, high school principal Ryan Harrison said.

Though Hampton was not an athlete, Harrison said he remembered seeing her at most football and basketball games, cheering on her school's teams.

A participant in school plays, she liked history. Harrison said her former teacher, now the school's assistant principal, always had good things to say about her when she took his class.