Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 23, 1993 TAG: 9309230133
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WHITE CHURCH LENGTH: Medium
Cadets from the Virginia Military Institute had searched the area and found nothing.
But with the savvy of an experienced woodsman, Dave Hall saw what they had overlooked.
"You could see the logs hadn't been there very long," he said.
That observation helped him unearth the shallow grave of a tall, slender girl believed to be the 11-year-old snatched from her Rockbridge County home Saturday.
While a dental examination will be performed today to confirm the identification, authorities have little doubt the body is Phadra's.
"The description fits," said Dr. David Oxley, deputy chief medical examiner for Western Virginia.
Hall knew that logs in the woods don't move themselves, and that leaves take on a different appearance if recently disturbed.
When he came across the knoll off Virginia 666 near the shell of a burned house, he noticed that the vegetation was lying down.
He also knew that logs and leaves are ready-made tools for a gravemaker.
He brushed away the leaves near the logs and discovered that the dirt below recently had been loosened.
He continued brushing; the dirt gave way to something solid beneath. After he cleared a spot about a foot in diameter, he knew what it was.
He ran to call 911.
When deputies arrived, they used shovels to uncover the remains of the girl.
Now, it will be left to Oxley to write the final chapter.
Hall, who lives nearby in Botetourt County, joined the search despite having just worked the midnight shift at a Roanoke box factory.
He empathizes with a mother in search of a child.
He has a child of his own - a 12-year-old.
"I came up here to put in my share of being nice," he said.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB