A Tennessee grand jury has returned indictments on multiple charges against two men in the rape and murder of a 29-year-old woman whose body was found hidden in a densely wooded area nearly ten days after she disappeared last fall, WKRN reports.
Carolyn Pope, the mother of a 5-year-old girl, was found dead on October 23 in rural Hickman County in central Tennessee, as CrimeOnline previously reported.
Mitchell Hinderliter and Christopher Hall were arrested after Pope’s body was found, but the investigation continued. The indictment charges the pair with with first-degree homicide, tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse, and false reporting. Additionally, Hinderliter is charged with rape, and Hall is charged with facilitation of rape.
Pope’s car was found two days after her October 13 disappearance, on blocks on Hinderliter’s property, missing its radio with its dashboard destroyed. Detectives also suspect there was blood in the back seat.
Arrest warrants filed last year said that Hinderliter admitted helping Hall dispose of Pope’s body after she had supposedly had a drug overdose. He said he drove Hall and the body to an isolated area long used as an illegal dump, where they dropped off the body, wrapped in sheets and covered in debris. Hinderliter later led police to the location.
The medical examiner’s report listed drug intoxication as a “contributory cause of death, ” saying that Pope had fentanyl, methamphetamine, and heroin in her system. The report says that decomposition prevented the medical examiner from making a definitive determination that asphyxia was a cause of death, but says it also could not be ruled out.
Prosecutors have not revealed any other details related to the case.
Pope’s daughter now lives with her grandmother.
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[Featured image: Carolyn Pope/Facebook]
