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

DATE: TUESDAY, December 20, 1994                   TAG: 9412210055
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DEAD CYCLIST FOUND ON STEWARTSVILLE MOUNTAIN

When Danny Meador climbed to the top of Stewart Knob near Virginia 635 in Stewartsville on Sunday, he was looking for a scenic view of the nearby Blue Ridge Parkway.

What he found was a body.

Meador and his cousin and two friends found the body of a 30- to 35-year-old man who apparently had bicycled to the top of the dense, overgrown mountain last week and then fallen off a rocky ledge and become trapped below.

"We were all going up this trail and then we spotted a bike. We looked around and then looked down and we saw him down in the rocks,'' Meador said.

"All of these years we've been going up there to see the beautiful view, and then we see something like that."

He and his companions called the Bedford County Sheriff's Office, which still is investigating. Sheriff's deputies Sunday were showing pictures of the dead man to residents near where the body was found, in hopes of determining his identity.

Meador said the man had dark brown hair and had the beginnings of a beard. He was wearing a red sweater and had a backpack. His blue mountain bike had a flat front tire. The man apparently was carrying no identification.

His body was partially decomposed and sheriff's deputies said it could have been there since last Tuesday or Wednesday, said Meador, who lives near Stewart Knob.

Local authorities have not received any reports of a missing person in recent weeks.

An autopsy will be done today.

Irby Flowers, a Stewartsville resident who lives on Virginia 635 and helped bring the body down the mountain, said: "What in the world would a man want to carry a bicycle up there for? A goat couldn't stand up up there. It's just a rock cliff."

Bedford County Sheriff Carl Wells released a two-sentence news release about the body Monday: "A white, male body has been found in Bedford County. Investigation is continuing and there is no further information at this time."

Wells has not sought the media's help in identifying the man and refused to release any more details.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB