HAYWOOD COUNTY, Tenn. — The search is still on for a missing mother of two from Haywood County and the man suspected in her disappearance, but the county sheriff believes the couple is no longer alive.
Search crews have been actively looking for Britney Watson and her ex-husband Kevin for several days.
On Tuesday, search teams zeroed in on a boat ramp in a wildlife area by the Hatchie River in Haywood County. This is where Kevin Watson, Britney Watson’s ex-husband, left his pickup truck and a note, investigators say, connected him to the disappearance of his ex-wife.
“In the note, he says, ‘I’m going to make it easy for your guys.’ I can’t tell you everything verbatim but that’s one of the things he said, ‘I’m going to make it easy for your guys,'” said Haywood County Sheriff Billy Garrett.
That note and information from a friend of Watson led investigators to determine Britney Watson was met with foul play.
“I think he regretted what he did. He realized he got out of control. He confided in a friend with this information and that friend has been working with our investigators. So that’s how we know a lot of this stuff,” Garrett said.
Britney Watson was last seen on January 7 with her ex-husband at their house on Hillville Loop Road. The house and surrounding land have been extensively searched on a tip that Britney Watson’s body may be on the property.
“We had some information, investigation helped us with that, that she may be around there and so we feel certain she is deceased,” Garrett said.
Investigators believe Kevin Watson may have taken his own life by drowning in the Hatchie River, but a team from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department using SONAR had not recovered Kevin’s body.
The sheriff wouldn’t say if the note Kevin Watson left indicates what happened to Britney.
“For the last four years, they’ve been trying to reconcile and get their marriage back together but apparently they ran into a lot of domestic problems, and obviously it led to this,” he said.
The sheriff says that just in case Kevin Watson is alive and did not take his life, a warrant for first-degree murder will be issued for his arrest.