Body Found in Lake: Is It Missing Waitress?

Sept. 23, 2008 — -- Police searching for an Alabama waitress who went missing in Knoxville, Tenn., more than a week ago found a young woman's body floating in a lake and have reportedly notifed her family about the discovery.

Jennifer Lee Hampton, 21, of Florence, Ala., was last seen at 9 p.m., Friday, Sept. 19, by a co-worker just outside her hotel room at a Days Inn in Knoxville.

Hampton, who has been described as hardworking and wholesome, was in town with three other employees to help set up a new branch of the Mama Blues Southern Cafe, a buffet restaurant based in Alabama where Hampton works.

"We can't say at this point if this is Ms. Hampton who has been missing since last Friday. We made contact with the family as soon as we got the call just to alert them to the possibility," Knoxville Police Department spokesman DeBusk Darrell Debusk told Knoxville ABC affiliate WATE TV.

"She was removed from the water and is being transported to the forensic center where an autopsy will be conducted and that will also help us determine the individual and other information," DeBusk said.

DeBusk declined to say how long the body had been in the water or if there was evidence of foul play, though police have said they suspect foul play in Hampton's disappearance.

A police spokesman confirmed to ABCNews.com that a young woman's body was found, but declined to go into details."We hope and pray this is not Jennifer. And if it's not, we hope and pray for the woman's family," Hampton family attorney Eddie Daniel said in a statement released today. "The Hampton family does not feel up to talking."

Cops: 'We Believe She Was a Victim of Foul Play'

A 911 call from one of Hampton's co-workers was made Saturday, Sept. 20, after Hampton didn't show up for work and was not in her hotel room, according to Knoxville Police spokesman Darrell DeBusk.

"Officers briefly looked into the room and thought what they saw was suspicious," DeBusk told ABC News. "We believe that she was a victim of foul play."

Police declined to say what evidence in the room made investigators suspicious, but Mama Blues owner Steve Barnhill told ABC News that he understood there was no forced entry into the hotel room and sheets were ripped off one of the beds.