Erik Walker

Searchers locate missing canoeist's body in New River

INDEPENDENCE, Va. - The body of a Clemmons man with many relatives in Wilkes County was found about 11 a.m. Thursday near where he was last seen alive after his canoe capsized about 12:30 p.m. Saturday. Virginia Game Warden Jason Harris and a Grayson County Sheriff's Department deputy were searching from a johnboat when Harris spotted the body of Erik James Walker, 23, in water about 12 feet deep.

Harris said the river water on Thursday was as clear as he had ever seen in the New, with rain expected to arrive the next day and likely impair the search.

Before the body was removed from the river, Harris had all family members in the vicinity meet at the Cox's Chapel Community Center for the news.

"Finding the body was a relief," said Garry Walker of Hays, uncle of the drowning victim. "But it was a double-edged sword," Walker added, referring to the family's grief over the loss.

"The hardest thing I had to see was Peggy and Larry standing there every day looking out over the river" since Saturday, he said. Wilkes native Larry Walker of Clemmons was Erik Walker's father and Peggy Smith of Winston-Salem was his mother.

Erik Walker was a star baseball pitcher at West Forsyth High School and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He was 3-1 with an 0.48 ERA and seven saves in 20 appearances for a minor league team in the Tampa Bay organization this past season. Family members said his chances of being moved up for major league ball appeared good. Garry Walker said he and Larry talked on the phone Saturday morning about the young pitcher's prospects for pro ball. They also talked about Garry Walker's son, Landon, an East Wilkes High School senior who was selected for the Shrine Bowl All-Star football game later this year. They speculated on watching the two play pro ball on TV.

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