
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 7, 1990                   TAG: 9006070088
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE:  By New River Valley bureau
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

72-YEAR-OLD MAN DROWNS IN DITCH

A 72-year-old man who had been found lying in a hole he was digging drowned in about 10 inches of water, an autopsy report said.

Charles Jennings of the 200 block of Starlight Drive was found Friday afternoon lying face down at the bottom of the ditch at Lyons Trailer Park on Starlight Drive, said Christiansburg Police Lt. Doug Marrs.

A report on the autopsy performed this week at the state medical examiner's office for Western Virginia in Roanoke found that the man drowned, Marrs said.

There appears to be nothing suspicious about Jennings' death, Marrs said, but it is still under investigation.

"It looks like he was repairing a water pipe down there and he just fell in," Marrs said.

A passing newspaper carrier pulled Jennings from the ditch. Witnesses told police he may have been there for 20 to 25 minutes when rescue crews arrived, Marrs said.

by CNB