SUMMERVILLE, Ga. — Authorities in Chattooga County are investigating the tragic death of Kimberley Lindsey, a Summerville woman found buried in trash at a county waste transfer station after what officials believe was a dumpster diving incident gone wrong.
According to a joint statement from the Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office and Summerville Police Department, Lindsey’s family reported her missing on Friday after being unable to locate her. Later that day, they discovered her vehicle near the dumpsters behind the Family Dollar on Commerce Street — a location she was known to frequent.
Family members told police that Lindsey often visited dumpsters to collect items, and just one day prior, her boyfriend had to help her out of a waste container at another site, noting she appeared to be under “some level of prescription intoxication.”
Sheriff Mark Schrader and Chief Deputy Kevin Woods went to the Family Dollar location but found the dumpsters empty. After contacting a local waste management company, investigators learned the containers had been emptied earlier that morning and taken to the Chattooga County transfer station.
Crews searched through the waste using heavy equipment before eventually locating Lindsey’s body. The Chattooga County Coroner and GBI Medical Examiner’s Office are now working to determine her cause of death.
Sheriff Schrader expressed deep sympathy for Lindsey’s family, saying,
“This was not the outcome we were hoping for. I want to thank all agencies for their quick response. Without their efforts, Ms. Lindsey’s family may never have gotten closure.”
The investigation remains ongoing. Authorities are asking the community to keep Lindsey’s loved ones in their thoughts during this heartbreaking time.