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

DATE: TUESDAY, April 11, 1995                   TAG: 9504110136
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Short

RIVER DEATH RULED A DROWNING

A Radford couple in a johnboat discovered the body of 28-year-old Mike Melvin around 6 p.m. Sunday near the river's bank, about 300 yards from a boat ramp in Riverview Park and approximately three-fourths of a mile from where he fell from a boat March 19.

A Pulaski County Sheriff's Office investigator said the body was mostly submerged and caught in brush and debris along the shoreline.

Melvin was fishing with two other men when he went overboard. His companions said they tried to save him by tossing a rope, but Melvin went beneath the surface and wasn't seen again.

The incident happened near the Pulaski-Montgomery County line just below where the Little River empties into the New River. At the time, Melvin and his friends were 60 to 75 feet offshore, in water 10 feet deep or less.

A search immediately after the incident failed to turn up any sign of Melvin.

A spokesman at Barnett Funeral Home in Wytheville said a graveside service for Melvin is scheduled for Wednesday at the family's cemetery in Bland County. A memorial service was held earlier.

Keywords:
FATALITY