Pam Johnson ID'd as 14th Gatlinburg wildfire victim
Nearly two months to the date after the wildfires that killed 14 people forced Sevier County evacuations, the final victim of the fires was identified Friday as 59-year-old Pamela Johnson, according to a news release from the county.
The one-sentence release identified Johnson, a grandmother who lived at Travelers Motel and worked at McKinney’s Market in Gatlinburg, as the 14th victim to die from the late November wildfires. By mid-afternoon, a Facebook post by Johnson's granddaughter, Karyssa Dalton, about the identification had generated dozens of messages from people expressing their love for Johnson and support for her family.
"For the past two months I have been waiting for her daily call and it never came," Dalton, 19, of Sevierville, said in a Facebook message to the News Sentinel. "Seeing my Nana whom is also my best friend 5 days a week and talking to her on the phone daily then not seeing (or) hearing from her hurts more than anyone can imagine! It's hard for everyone to lose someone but I have never lost someone so close to me before."
Dalton said her family was notified Friday and she was feeling distraught. "I'm glad I have information, but this still isn't any easier," she said.
The identification of Johnson's body was delayed because she was severely burned and it was hard to collect a good DNA sample, said John Lott, senior director of the Regional Forensics Center in Knoxville. The center had to collect multiple samples from Johnson's body and worked with the Tennessee Bureau of Identification to finally make the ID, Lott said.
The confirmation came in Friday and the Gatlinburg Police Department notified Johnson's family, he said.
"We try to assure the information we put out is 100 percent accurate to the best of our ability and while we may believe someone to be who they are, in order to spare the families any additional grief, we want to make sure we're right," Lott said. "The worst thing would be for us to say this person is X and we tell X's family and then a month later the DNA analysis comes back and it's Y."
An official cause of death for Johnson was not available Friday. Sevier County Circuit Court judges on Jan. 4 issued orders forbidding release of the autopsy reports and death certificates for the 14 people listed as victims of the Nov. 28 firestorm. The orders, which came at the request of the 4th Judicial District Attorney General's Office, do not state a reason for sealing the records.
Dalton last talked to her grandmother on the night of Nov. 28. She was in a friend's room at Travelers caring for his dog and cat when Dalton told her she should evacuate, making her promise that if the fires got too bad she would let the animals go and get out with her own dog, a disabled Chihuahua.
In December Dalton told the News Sentinel that her family still had not heard from Johnson and that while they were continuing to hold on to hope they were also "preparing for the worst" should her name be released as the 14th fire victim.
She also said she worried that her grandmother did not want to evacuate and leave the animals behind.
“She cared for animals like they were people,” Dalton said at the time. “In a way I can see it, but it’s not what she promised me. She promised me she would leave.”
On Friday, she said her grandmother was someone who would tell her daily that she was proud of her and that, "If I can be half the woman she was I'll be succeeding at everything."
Christina Wilpers, a friend of Johnson's, said the kindness she extended to customers at McKinney's made her a fixture among Gatlinburg locals, especially those who worked late shifts in the service industry and would come into the market during night hours when Johnson was often working to get a snack or pick up groceries.
"She was that type of person who, if she saw you having a bad day, she wanted to hug you," Wilpers said. "She went out of her way to get to know you just for walking into the store. She's a woman who's going to be really, really missed by a lot of the community in Gatlinburg."
Johnson is the last of 14 fire victims to be identified by authorities. The late November fires destroyed more than 2,400 structures in Sevier County, including homes and businesses, and forced evacuations of Gatlinburg and surrounding areas the night of Nov. 28.
On Dec. 15, District Attorney General Jimmy Dunn requested no information or public records be released about the fires in Gatlinburg or the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He said release of any information could hinder the prosecution of two juveniles charged with aggravated arson in connection with the fire that started on Chimney Tops in the national park.