A man fishing before sunrise Thursday made a gruesome discovery at the Appomattox River in Colonial Heights, Virginia.
He found a woman's body.
"I was sitting there just enjoying the evening ... no phone, no radio ... I’d been there a half hour, 45 minutes," the man, whose identity we've protected, told Scripps News Richmond. "I was putting a piece of bait on a hook and I was sitting there and I heard 'pow!' So I put my hand over my headlamp [and thought], what the heck just happened?"
A second noise followed.
"After the gunshot was what sounded to be a large object splash in the water," he said.
Then he spotted something along the riverbank.
"A few seconds later, a set of headlights slowly made their way through the parking lot and just kind of eased on out from the park," the fisherman shared.
He then packed up his gear and made his way back to the dock.
"I was uncertain what I was getting ready to get into," he admitted. "I turned the lightbar on and I seen a colorful object. All I seen was clothes."
Colonial Heights Police arrived at about 5 a.m. and, with the help of the Virginia State Police dive team, recovered a woman's body.
The body was taken to the medical examiner's office for identification.
"I didn’t hear any commotion while I was sitting there [before the shooting]," the fisherman said."I will go back, yeah, but it’s going to take some time. It will be a little while."
Anyone with information was asked to call Crime Solvers at 804-748-0660.
This story was originally published by Wayne Covil at Scripps News Richmond.
