by B. Lynn DiBiase
State police are investigating the death of a 37-year-old Roanoke woman whose
body was found in Cave Mountain Lake Monday evening.
Sherri Shinneman was reported missing at 7:21 p.m. Sunday. She had been camping with her husband and daughter since Saturday, said Capt. C.J. Blalock of the Rockbridge County Sheriff's Office. He said her husband last saw Shinneman at about midnight Sunday.
"He said he was trying to find her and contact family members," Blalock said regarding the time discrepancy.
Deputies arrived at Cave Mountain Lake at about 7:45 p.m. Sunday and began a search with tracking dogs. They stopped around 4 a.m. because of fog and rain, but resumed again around 8 a.m., Blalock said.
Divers from the Sheriff's Office and the Glasgow Rescue Squad were called to the scene at about 3 p.m. They searched the lake near the spot along the shoreline where some of her clothing and other personal items were found. Blalock said her body was found at about 6 p.m.
Her cause of death is under investigation, but Blalock said by all appearances she drowned. An autopsy was performed Tuesday.
This article originally appeared in the
Wednesday, May 30, 2001
issue of the News-Gazette.