2 teens dismembered 'friend,' set him on fire
![]() |
| Micah Denise Pate |
UPDATE I
MyFoxMemphis has updated the article I linked in the previous update.
Thomas Pate will be charged with the murder of his wife on Saturday. He told investigators where they could find his wife's body, in a wooded area 7 or 8 miles from their residence.
What the hell is it with these [allegedly] killer husbands and the "wife going jogging" thing?
UPDATE
Micah Denise Pate has been found deceased. From MyFoxMemphis:
Investigators have located the body of 26-year old Micah Cate, missing since Thursday night when she left her home for a routine jog.
Sources tell FOX13 that Shelby County Sherriff's deputies located her body off Brunswick Road near the Loosahatchie River.
Police are not releasing any further details at this time.
Original post
Police in Bartlett, TN, just outside Memphis, are searching for 26-year-old Micah Denise Pate. Investigators say Pate left her home at 3591 Foxfield Trail for a jog around 8:30 on Thursday evening and never came home. Her husband, Thomas Pate, called police around half-past 10 on Thursday and said that his wife had been gone for more than 2 hours.
Pate told police that Micah was typically already home and in bed by 10 p.m. She also left all her personal effects behind.
Micah Pate is 5' 5", 115 lb blue-eyed blond with a short haircut. She was clad in brown pants and a long-sleeved blue shirt when she vanished.
A local minister blogged about assisting in the search for the missing woman:
Please pray for Micah Pate. She is a 25-year-old married woman who went missing last night around 8:30. I was out with friends until 5:00 this morning searching every park and street in her surrounding neighborhood. We are crying out to God to do something here. Please join us.
Police don't suspect foul play at the moment - but they almost always say that, at first.
There is no word in any local media of suspicion towards Thomas Pate, either. But it won't help him that some of the most high-profile missing wife cases in recent years (Laci Peterson, Lori Hacking) all began with a wife going for a walk or jog and leaving all her personal effects behind.
If you think you have information about the disappearance of Micah Denise Pate, get in touch with the Bartlett Police Department Investigative Services at 901-385-5565. You can also call Bartlett Police Crime Stoppers: 901-385-5550.
[Sources: MyFoxMemphis; MyEyeWitnessNews.com; The Commercial-Appeal.]








I live in Bartlett, TN, not too far from where this lady lives.. I am very confused WHY she was out jogging, wearing long pants and a long sleeved shirt? It was hot and MUGGY yesterday and began to rain around 8:00 last night (right as she supposedly left her house??)! FISHY!
Posted 05/01/2009 at 07:07:16 PM
Posted 05/01/2009 at 08:22:20 PMI have recently lost a loved one in Bartlett (Tina Caronna). I have some web resources that may or may not help in this. I will be receptive to email contact by a responsible adult close to the case and will be glad to help as much as possible.
All I can do is sigh and agree with the last part of your write up Steve.
Christy,
Posted 05/01/2009 at 08:33:16 PMVery interesting about the weather/temperture and the clothes she was last seen wearing.
Russ, bless your heart! I thought Tina's name sounded familiar. So sorry for what you went thru. If you have info to share I think you can use the contact form to tell Steve Huff.. Hope that helps and again.. bless you for what you must have went thru/continue to go thru
Posted 05/01/2009 at 08:56:57 PM~Becky
http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news/050109_Missing_Bartlett_Woman_Found_Dead
she has been found dead
Posted 05/01/2009 at 10:13:19 PMhttp://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=3591+Foxfield+Trail+Bartlett+Tennessee&daddr=Loosahatchie+River+&hl=en&geocode=&mra=ls&sll=35.286681,-89.787714&sspn=0.002185,0.004807&ie=UTF8&ll=35.28094,-89.765124&spn=0.008741,0.019226&t=h&z=16
Steve, this is a map from her house to the location her body was found... it is about seven miles away from her house and surrounded by trees. I smell hink...
Posted 05/01/2009 at 10:38:04 PMI live just north of Memphis and my husband works right in this area. I asked him if he had heard about this woman on the news and he said no. I watched the news and had not heard about her. There is no way she ran 9 miles. I agree with previous poster. I cannot imagine this woman running in long pants and long sleeve shirt.
Posted 05/01/2009 at 10:51:11 PMFrom Nurse's link:
"Thomas was identified as a suspect by investigators, and then told police where to find her body. Thomas Pate is currently in police custody; he is expected to be officially charged with his wife's murder Saturday."
Posted 05/01/2009 at 11:01:27 PMI hate stories like this. The result seems predetermined as soon as you hear it.
Posted 05/02/2009 at 12:59:36 PMMy condolences to her family and loved ones.
agreed Christy..very suspicious on his part. But on another note people Tend to expect the worst in situations like this and automatically determine the right course of action by how they would themselves act. (its safe to assume MOST would have dialed 911 immediately and not acted deceptively, but there IS an increasing tendency to also fear wrongful conviction which might cause some to behave that way. Personally i think it was probably a domestic- homicide that he tried to cover up, but I'll wait for the police version of events and see what transpires. (and be assured cases like this often have a quick resolve and plenty of things which tie the offender to the Crime) most crime afficiados likely have a few possible scenarios in mind though :1) he was cleaning his gun and it went off which led to her death, he panicked, and decided to hide the body and try the "my wife went missing" routine because he feared wrongful persecution 2) due to an accumulation of personal stressors (arguments about bills/adultery/threats of leaving him for another man) he killed her during a heated argument (domestic homicide) and then staged it to look like a disappearance (most would say Staged-domestic homicide maybe for this one) 3) the classic motive/money/insurance/ he killed her and staged it to look like a disappearance/stranger-related homicide in order to get insurance money.
Posted 05/02/2009 at 06:05:32 PMHe says he accidentally shot her and they charged him with second degree, so maybe they are buying his story of "accident." I haven't read anything about their relationship or possible problems.
http://snipurl.com/h9ofz
She had a Facebook page but the only thing you can do is view her friends list.
Posted 05/03/2009 at 11:06:44 AMjohn in NC, in the article you posted, the neighbor (bowen) mentions that the husband seemed Calm and collected, i think thats something that would be hard to pull off if you had just accidentally shot someone, but i guess people react differently. I think its interesting that no one reported a shot fired, or heard anything, but things like that have occurred before. Are they considering she was shot in the residence and then transported to the dumpsite? It makes me wonder if she was still in the house when he called the police, and the husband waited until LATER to take the body to the dumpsite,whenever neighbors were in bed. If you find out anything keep us posted Sir. thanks.
Posted 05/03/2009 at 07:08:56 PMLeslie Ballin is his attorney. Same one that defended Mary Winkler. If you're guilty or not, this is the best man in town to have defend you.
He is claiming it was accidental, gunshot to the back of the head. If it was an accident, and he loved her, why would he have not called 911, but instead he tried to hide her body and concoct a story?
I believe they have only charged him with 2nd degree because they don't have all the facts yet. Once they determine if there were problems in the marriage, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets hit with Murder 1.
Posted 05/05/2009 at 10:07:55 AMJaden, I agree..it was very surprising how Ballin got WInkler off on such a lenient sentence. (though there were extreme emotional factors involved) Hes' a clever, silver tongued fellow i suspect.
I agree also that its very suspicious that the husband went to such lengths to conceal the crime, and tried to stage it as a disappearance that led to Opportunistic murder or something similar. It was stated on one site (fox news i believe) that a neighbor said he was calm and collect while speaking to the Police. (a man who just killed his wife accidentally would Usually show symptoms of guilt or
Posted 05/06/2009 at 04:04:50 PMgrief more often) the 2nd degree charge could also be for a scenario in which there was No Planning INvolved, or premeditation to kill. A spur of the moment domestic homicide would often get 2nd degree.