Body Found In New River
A startling discovery by three fishermen on New River has led to a homicide investigation by the Scott County SheriffÕs Department.
Scott County Rescue Squad personnel recovered the body of an unidentified white male from the river on Friday evening after the fishermen contacted the SheriffÕs Department to alert them to an object they believed to be a body, discovered as they fished the river from a small john boat.
The Independent Herald learned just before press time Tuesday that the identity of the victim was known. However, law enforcement officers refused to release the name pending notification of family members.
On Monday, Scott County SheriffÕs Department Detective Robbie Carson confirmed that the body was that of an unidentified white male, 5-5 in height, weighing between 140 and 160 pounds, with short black hair and brown eyes, no visible tattoos and estimated to Òprobably be in his 40Õs.Ó The body was initially believed to be a male in his late Ô20s, but that was revised following the completion of an autopsy at the University of Tennessee Medical Center.
The autopsy showed that the man died as the result of a gunshot wound to the head, Carson said.
The body was discovered approximately one mile above the U.S. Hwy 27 New River Bridge.
The investigation began early Friday afternoon after the fishermen, who had launched their boat at Low Gap, discovered what they believed to be a body. After motoring back to where their vehicle was parked, at the river access point adjacent to Rivermont, an area located directly across from New River Baptist Church, the trio drove to nearby Fill ÔN Foods to alert authorities. Carson accompanied the fishermen back to the location of the body and subsequently notified the Scott County Rescue Squad shortly before 3:30 p.m.
After the body was recovered, it was floated to the New River Bridge, where it was transported to the Scott County Hospital before being transferred to UT for autopsy procedures.
Carson said that investigators had Òno ideaÓ how long the body had been in the river. One of the fishermen who discovered the body told the Independent Herald that the area around the body Òsmelled awful,Ó apparently signifying that the corpse had begun to decay.
Some reports suggested that the body was bound and weighted down by blocks or bricks. Carson declined to comment on the possibility.
The body is the second to have been dumped in the New River community in the past 13 months. The first, discovered on an abandoned section of Old Hwy 27 in early June of 2002, was that of a 56-year-old Wartburg man, Richard J. Krenza. KrenzaÕs wife was later charged with his murder.
Anyone with any information related to the discovery of the latest body is asked to contact the Scott County SheriffÕs Department at 663-2245.
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