Starbuck, just wanted to thank you for making the site for Trenny. I always yearned to know more details about her case, and I've been reading your site for a few months now, as well as seeing your screen name other places on the web.
I have the book "Unsolved Appearances in the Smokey Mountains" and the excerpt that Trenny's mom wrote was beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. I'm curious, is the account in the book accurate?
Are you in any contact with Trenny's family? Do they have their own theories? In your opinion do you believe this case will ever be solved?
Starbuck, just wanted to thank you for making the site for Trenny. I always yearned to know more details about her case, and I've been reading your site for a few months now, as well as seeing your screen name other places on the web.
I have the book "Unsolved Appearances in the Smokey Mountains" and the excerpt that Trenny's mom wrote was beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. I'm curious, is the account in the book accurate?
Are you in any contact with Trenny's family? Do they have their own theories? In your opinion do you believe this case will ever be solved?
Yes, to answer your questions, the account is mostly accurate, but a lot of Trenny’s case has become almost folklore over the years. The book kind of just scratches the surface. When I first began this journey, it was the only book that contained anything about what happened to Trenny. The internet had virtually nothing, but a case profile on the DOE Network.
Yes, the Gibson family is in touch with me and have been a great help along the way with providing information and answering questions. Luckily for them, they have a strong faith that has helped sustain them, or I don’t think they could have survived such a heartbreaking thing. Trenny was the centre of their family.
Our theories as to what happened are very similar, although I’m always open to hearing other thoughts or opinions as to what could have happened that October day, 43 years ago.
In my opinion, yes, the case is solvable. The biggest issue is that the perpetrator(s) think they have it made because they are confident that Trenny’s remains will never be found. One of the suspects could never account for his whereabouts, when Trenny left his company to hike back to the bus, and had an assistant DA in Knoxville for a father. Some classmates of hers, hold to the runaway theory, claiming she had trouble at home, but can’t further explain it or
crack under questioning. After she disappeared, her comb was found in a student’s car, and another student had some of her jewelry. Trenny was very particularly about things, especially her belongings. If she wanted to give them away, she would have given them to her sister. There were also a lot of threats in the air, the atmosphere was heavy, “keep quiet or the same will happen to you” kind of talk. If Trenny just had enough and ran away, after leaving all money, identification, and clothing at home, then walking for nearly three hours in unfamiliar territory, what were all the threats about? I believe someone out there has one hell of a story to tell, perhaps someday they will surface and tell the right people.
My goal until that day forward is to bring awareness to Trenny’s story and ensure that she is not forgotten or lost to time. I also want to encourage folks that visit the site, to stop and think. Things are not always as they seem, do not believe everything that people tell you, accept it as the gospel, etc. And just because something has been the acceptable truth for more than 40 years, does not mean it is true.
