MILLINGTON, Tenn. (WREG) — It’s been nearly a month since Jessica Paige Kemp, a 32-year-old from Paragould, Arkansas, was found dead after hiking by herself near Lake Ashbaugh in Arkansas.
Her mother said Sunday she doesn’t believe her daughter got lost; she thinks she was murdered.
On Sunday, a memorial was held for Jessica at the Millington VFW, not far from her original home in Munford, Tennessee.
“In a sense it’s closure, getting to say goodbye for so many people,” her mother Sandy Kemp said. “Of course I can’t say goodbye to her, but for a lot of people that’s what this is.”
Jessica’s mother Sandy said it was a tough day, but she’s inspired that so many people came out to remember her daughter.
Pictures filled the room of Jessica, who was described as a woman who loved the outdoors and was a creative and crafty spirit who lit up every room she walked in. Jessica’s mother said her daughter was one of a kind.
“She was smart, kind, very giving, she’d give away her last dollar. She was one of a kind, absolutely beautiful soul, absolutely beautiful,” she said.
Jessica’s death remains an ongoing investigation by the Greene County Sheriff’s office, but Sandy Kemp said she doesn’t like how things are being handled.
Jessica was found by a Greene County detective and a civilian search party on June 10 near Lake Ashbaugh in Arkansas. The Greene County Sheriff’s Office says they will not release further information until more is learned from the crime lab.
Sandy Kemp, who hired a private investigator and searched for her daughter herself, says she knows what happened.
“She didn’t get lost, my daughter didn’t get lost,” she said. “I think my daughter was murdered. Actually, I know she was.”
NewsNation local affiliate WREG reached out to the Greene County Sheriff’s Office for a comment on the investigation but were unable to reach them.