FBI Investigating Man Found Dead in Smokemont Baptist Church in the Smokies

A man was found dead inside the historic Smokemont Baptist Church in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Sunday.

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Park Service are investigating the death of a man whose body was discovered in the Smokemont Baptist Church on March 29, 2015 as a homicide.

Smokemont Baptist Church, also known as the Oconaluftee Baptist Church, is located a few miles inside the Cherokee, N.C. entrance to the park, near the Smokemont Campground.

Smokemont Baptist Church in Great Smoky Mountains National Park – NPS

According to Shelley Lynch, public affairs specialist with the Charlotte division of the FBI, this is an active homicide investigation. FBI agents responded to the scene and gathered evidence, which will be processed to determine to the cause, manner, and circumstances of the man’s death.

The name of the man has not been released and Lynch would not confirm if the body had been identified.

No other information was available for release at this time as it is an open investigation.

Park officials confirmed the church has reopened to visitors.