Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 27, 1992 TAG: 9203270215
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR and RON BROWN STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Pat Clark, public information officer for the VA center, said Thursday that officials had no identification on either of the bodies and wouldn't until medical examiners complete autopsies, expected today.
"Anything at this point would be speculative," Clark said. "All we know is that we have two unidentified bodies and no identification."
A patient was reported missing to VA staff in mid-November, Clark said. Officials immediately notified the patient's next of kin and VA police officers searched the 220-acre complex, Clark said.
"That is something we routinely do any time a patient is not accounted for," she said.
The patient had not been committed so the facility could not rightfully hold him, she said.
A second patient was reported missing in mid-February, Clark said. That patient had been committed for care, she said.
Salem police were notified, as routine VA protocol requires, Clark said. A report was filed with the police Feb. 22, Salem Police Sgt. Mike Fisher said.
"In those cases, we have the authority to issue a warrant and have them brought back to the facility," she said.
Clark said the hilly terrain, undergrowth and pine trees where the bodies were found greatly reduced visibility. "Even if they had searched, it would have been very difficult for them to be able to sight the bodies," she said.
Clark was not sure how often police conduct a grounds search after a patient has been reported missing. But she said VA police "investigate all possibilities" in a complete grounds search. VA police routinely patrol the complex 24 hours a day, she said.
The two bodies were found near buildings where patients with emotional problems are housed, Clark said. The two patients reported missing by VA officials were being treated for emotional problems.
Word of the discovery of the bodies had reached officials at the VA central office in Washington, D.C., Thursday. C. Wayne Hawkins, deputy chief medical director for operations, said he had been notified while in Nevada on business. He declined to answer specific questions about the incident.
"We are cooperating fully to identify the bodies and to assist in any way possible," Hawkins said.
James Farsetta, who is heading a review team investigating the Salem VA center this week on concerns raised by a government employee union, said Wednesday that the incident was not expected to hamper the investigation process.
"I don't want to say it won't have an impact," said Farsetta, director of a VA medical center in New York. "But it won't have an impact on the way we plan on proceeding."
The first body was found shortly after 3 p.m. Wednesday by a patient, Sgt. Fisher said. The decomposed body was lying on its back in a pine thicket about 150 yards down a hillside from the closest building.
Fisher said the body appeared to be intact and was fully clothed.
After the first body was discovered, a VA groundskeeper started searching the thicket.
About 4:30 p.m., the groundskeeper spotted the second body hanging from a tree with a rope around its neck. That body also was fully clothed.
Authorities placed both bodies in body bags and took them to the medical examiner's officer for an autopsy.
Fisher said police did not search the clothes to look for identification. That task will be left to the medical examiner. Authorities had no estimate as to how long the bodies had been there.
Fisher said Salem police occasionally receive warrants from the director of the medical center advising them to be on the lookout for missing confined patients.
"There was not enough of them to throw up a red flag," Fisher said. "There has not been the volume of missing patients reported to the Police Department to indicate anything suspicious."
Fisher warned that it would be premature for anyone to speculate on whether the bodies were those of missing patients.
"There is a possibility that they are patients," he said. "It is not something we can say as a concrete fact right now."
Keywords:
FATALITY
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition on A1.