Sevier County woman still missing after 2010 house fire
SEVIER COUNTY, Tenn. (WATE) — It's been more than 14 years since Theresa Mcmullin disappeared and her home burned, but law enforcement is still investigating, hoping to find out what happened to her.
On September 12, 2010, firefighters responded to the scene of a house fire on Shady Gap Way in Sevier County. The address of the home is connected to the town of Cosby, but the home itself was in a rural area of east Sevier County. When crews arrived, they found that the home had already been on fire for some time, but they extinguished the remaining blaze.
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Eventually, it became clear to the fire department that a woman, Mcmullin, lived there, Deputy Chief Jeff McCarter with the Sevier County Sheriff's Office shared while speaking with 6 News about the case. Crews sifted through the debris multiple times, but no human remains were found. At that point, it was determined that she was missing, and she is still missing today.
Mcmullin, who also went by the name of Terry, was known to be a woman who kept to herself. At the time of the fire, she was 63 years old, but if she were alive today, she would be 77 years old. McCarter explained that she wasn't very well known by anyone in the area, but she had moved to Sevier County from Florida several years before her disappearance.
In addition to sifting through the debris, McCarter explained that there have been searches of other areas, including searches using cadaver dogs and search teams. McCarter said investigators believe something may have happened to Mcmullin.
'I believe she came to foul play in the house and her body was moved,' McCarter said. 'She had some medical issues, and she was prescribed some very high pain killers, so I believe that might have been the driving force between what happened to her.'
He explained that while there where some drug activities associated with people around Mcmullin, it is not believed that she was part of those activities.
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While some might be tempted to believe that Mcmullin was in the home but the fire was simply too hot for her remains to be found afterwards, McCarter explained that is extremely unlikely. Crews on the scene discovered animal remains in the fire, so if her remains were in the home, they likely would have been found.
Another aspect of the case that is unusual is that her car was still outside the home at the time of the fire, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, and her son had not seen her since the fire.
Throughout the investigation, investigators have interviewed various people who were close to Mcmullin and the case. McCarter said they spoke with Mcmullin's brother, who lived in Georgia, and with her son, who lived on the property but not in Mcmullin's home and has since left the area. They also spoke with others who were hanging around her son.
McCarter said that there have been several obstacles in the case, including that in the last few years of the investigation, some of the people who were initially interviewed, and who investigators hoped to reinterview, have died.
Over the years, investigators have gotten some help through tips, but after interviews and continued investigation, there hasn't been enough evidence to substantiate what they have been told. Still, they are continuing to work and learn what happened to Theresa Mcmullin.
'We're not going to stop investigating this until we find out what happened to her,' McCarter said. 'There's always somebody out there [who] knows something.'
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Although it's still unclear what caused Mcmullin's disappearance, there is still an effort to find her. If something did happen that resulted in her death, McCarter pointed out that she deserves to be properly laid to rest.
'Her body's never been recovered and she deserves a proper burial, you know, and we'd like information on what might have happened to her remains,' McCarter said.
Anyone who has any information that could help investigators is encouraged to call the Sevier County Sheriff's Office at 865-453-4668 and ask to speak with the Criminal Investigations Division.
Authorities say nearly 400 people go missing in Tennessee each year. That's five people for every 100,000. Check this list of people missing from East Tennessee to see if you can help locate someone.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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