Search continues for missing kayaker

The body of a man believed to have drowned Sunday in the New River was found Wednesday just downstream from where a search was concentrated. According to Deputy Tim Duncan of the Alleghany Sheriff’s Department, the body of 23-year-old Augustine Cruz of Glade Valley was found in about three feet of water, buried under some loose silt and mud about eight feet off the bank.

“It was very unusual, but you never know how the current’s going to carry something,” Duncan said.

“The body had settled in the mud and was not visible from above,” Duncan said. “It was very unusual, but you never know how the current’s going to carry something.”

Duncan’s wife, Jackie, who is a volunteer with the Alleghany Rescue Squad, located the body.

“They decided to put a group of people from Wilkes, Alleghany, Baywood and Independence in the river with poles and have them walk the edge of the river and pole to see if they could locate the body,” Duncan said. He said Jackie Duncan came upon the body about two-tenths of a mile down the river from where local authorities were staging, upstream from the U.S. 21 bridge near the Virginia state line.

Earlier, authorities were searching an area of the river near where the body was found with divers and underwater cameras.

Duncan said Cruz’s body was sent to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center for an autopsy. The results were not available as of presstime Friday.

Sheriff Mike Caudill said Cruz and two friends got in the river at Farmer’s Fish Camp bridge on Sunday around noon or 1 p.m. in a borrowed canoe and kayak. All were nonswimmers and inexperienced

Two boats, one carrying divers and the other carrying underwater camera equipment, seach the river bottom for a man believed to have drowned in a kayaking accident on New River up river from the U.S. 21 bridge.

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