Derek Funk
Note: This story was updated at 4:15 p.m.
The remains found near a pickup truck under water in south Knoxville last week have been identified as those of Derek Ryan Funk, an Oak Ridge High School graduate who went missing almost four years ago, when he was 19, authorities said.
“The cause of death is still undetermined,” the Knoxville Police Department said in a Tuesday afternoon statement. “The investigation is continuing.”
The 1996 Ford Ranger pickup truck found last week was last seen being driven by Funk in 2010. The pickup was found upside down and under water in the 1400 block of Island Home Avenue in Knoxville on Thursday. On Friday, the KPD announced that a dive team had found unidentified human remains near the truck.
Funk went to Oak Ridge High School—he graduated in 2009—and his parents live in Oak Ridge. He had been missing since May 12, 2010.
A truck pulled from the water in south Knoxville may have belonged to a missing local man, according to Knoxville police. (Photo courtesy WBIR-TV)
The KPD said last week that a caller reported seeing the wheels of the upside-down pickup truck protruding from the water near Island Home Avenue at about 12:16 p.m. Thursday. A tow truck was called to the scene, which is south of downtown Knoxville, to pull the vehicle from the water.
“It was quickly determined that no one was in the vehicle and that it had been in the water for an extended period of time,” DeBusk said.
“Investigators and forensic technicians are continuing to process the vehicle for additional information in the disappearance of Mr. Funk,” DeBusk said Friday.
He said a dive team from the Knoxville Volunteer Rescue Squad responded to the scene to search for additional evidence under water.
DeBusk said Funk left his girlfriend’s house in Powell at about midnight May 12, 2010, and never arrived home at his residence on Coffman Drive in South Knoxville. Funk, who was employed as a welder in Knoxville, also failed to show up for work.
The family had offered a $10,000 reward for more information about his disappearance.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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