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

DATE: TUESDAY, June 14, 1994                   TAG: 9406140375
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ESTATE OF DROWNED 10-YEAR-OLD SUES BOAT OPERATOR, GIRL'S AUNT

The estate of a 10-year-old girl who drowned after falling off a pontoon boat on Smith Mountain Lake last summer has filed a $500,000 suit against the boat's operator and the girl's aunt, who saw the accident happen.

Nyssa A. McFaddin had enjoyed a day on the lake last July with her aunt, Susan McFaddin, before she slipped over the edge of the boat in the Blackwater River section of the lake in Franklin County. The boat's propeller hit her, and she drowned.

The girl's life jacket slipped off as she was sucked underneath the boat, investigators said last summer.

A suit filed in U.S. District Court in Roanoke this week said Susan McFaddin and the boat's operator, Julian Henderson, were at fault because they didn't make sure Nyssa was wearing a properly secured life jacket.

It also claims that Susan McFaddin was watching Nyssa and didn't maintain "proper care and control" of the youngster.

Nyssa, who lived in Ohio with her mother, was visiting her father, Dale McFaddin, in Pittsylvania County when the accident happened. The suit is filed by her estate's administrator, who lives in Ohio.

It took several days of searching by divers before Nyssa's body was recovered in the lake. Investigators were unable to determine if her life jacket was fastened improperly or if it came off because it hit some part of the boat.

Neither Susan McFaddin, who lives in Callands, nor Henderson, who lives in Danville, could be reached for comment.

by CNB