Body found in well identified........................

The body found in the well at 229 Henry Bayless Rd., Ardmore, TN, has been identified as 36 yr. old Rachel Michelle Lane.

This case started out as a child's report of sexual abuse to a school counselor. It went from a report of sexual abuse, to the search for a missing person and then finally a case of murder.

The TN. Dept. of Human Resources, referred the case to Investigator Joyce McConnell. McConnell went to the home of Keith Allen Lane, 35, to investigate the allegations of child sexual abuse. McConnell also wanted to speak with his wife, Rachel Michelle Lane. Lane told McConnell that he and his wife were "seperated and his wife was out of the house".

Lane was living with his mother, and he and Rachel were married and had one little boy. Lane had another child, a biological daughter, and there was one more little boy in the home, a nephew. According to McConnell, the Lane's were in the process of divorcing.

McConnell said that she came to interview Rachel Lane, because "when you are working a child abuse case, you need to talk to the mother as a possible witness." However, McConnell could not find Rachel to talk with her. She finally located Rachel's mother. The mother was living in another state and had not heard from her daughter. The more McConnell checked, the more suspicous she became and the more the mother checked.

Rachel's mother filed a missing person's report on June 30th, and Rachel was listed as officially missing.

McConnell obtained a search warrant, to search the Lane home on Henry Bayless Rd. after further investigation. They searched for 2 days, and on Aug. 14th, investigators found the remains of a woman, 28 ft. down in the bottom of a hand-dug well on the property.

The medical examiner identified the remains as that of Rachel Michelle Lane with an old x-ray. Rachel had been in an automobile accident in Feb. and had pins in her ankle. The pins were what led to the positive ID.

Autopsy results cannot be released yet, but the TN. authorities believe that they know the cause of death.

A Preliminary Hearing has been held for Keith Allen Lane, and the case was bound over to the Lincoln County Circuit Court. A grand jury will convene on Sept. 16th to decide if there's enough evidence to indict Lane on the following charges:

1) Criminal homicide in connection with his wife's death;
2)Sexual battery by an authority figure; and
3)Assault in connection with abuse of one of the children.

The child's name and age are not being disclosed.

Keith Lane is being held without bond in the Lincoln County Jail and all 3 children have been removed from the Lane home.

McConnell says that she doesn't know if Rachel would have ever been found if there had not been an investigation of child abuse in the Lane home.

***NOTE***
This story was taken from the Athens-News Courier.