Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 10, 1995 TAG: 9504110074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Sgt. A.R. Webb, an investigator with the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office, said the body is believed to be that of Mike Melvin, a 28-year-old Wytheville man who was reported as a drowning victim March 19. But Webb said he can't say for sure until a family member makes identification and an autopsy is conducted.
Melvin was fishing with two other men when he fell out of their boat. His friends say they tried to save him by tossing a rope, but Melvin went under and wasn't seen again.
Lillie Fortner said she and her husband, Rocky Fortner, were negotiating the river in a jon boat near Riverview Park in west Radford at about 6 p.m. Sunday when her husband spotted the body.
"My husband, he wouldn't let me turn around and look," when he saw the crown of a head sticking up from the water, Lillie Fortner said. The body was submerged and caught up in brush and debris at the river's edge, she and Webb said.
Lillie Fortner said her husband diverted her attention, then further downstream said, "Let's go up to your dad's. I think I found him." The police were called at 6:20 p.m.
"All I could think about was his mom and dad," Lillie Fortner said when she realized the body could be Melvin's. She asked that people pray for his family.
"They're going to need it now more than ever."
The body discovered Sunday was found about 300 yards from a public boat ramp in Riverview Park, about three-fourths of a mile from where Melvin went overboard near the Pulaski-Montgomery county line just below where the Little River empties into the New River.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB