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last updated at 10:44 PM on Aug. 5, 2004 Truck parked at scene belonged to missing woman By Joe Johnson
According to Mike Siegler, special agent in charge of the Georgia Bureau
of Investigation's Thomson office, which is handling the case, the body was
found in a wooded area near the Little River in Wilkes County, some 200 yards
from a truck belonging to Kathryn Anne Grant, the 29-year-old University of
Georgia employee missing since Saturday afternoon. "It was the (Athens woman's) truck," Siegler said, referring
to the blue Ford F-150 pickup with a kayak mounted on a wood frame in the
truck's bed. "We're still trying to obtain dental records and fingerprints
from Clarke County," Siegler said Thursday. He said there were no signs of foul play, and that his office was
awaiting the results of toxicology tests performed during an autopsy at the
GBI's State Crime Lab. Because Grant is an avid kayaker, the state Department of Natural
Resources was among the agencies notified of her disappearance. It was a DNR
ranger who found the truck parked under a bridge where the Little River -
which separates Wilkes and McDuffie counties - empties into Clark's Hill
Reservoir, Siegler said. The site is off U.S. Highway 78 about 10 miles
southeast of Washington and 40 miles from Athens. According to Wilkes County Sheriff's Office Investigator Jimmy
Harrison, the woman's clothed body was found about 200 yards from the truck
by a Wilkes sheriff's deputy. Grant was reported missing to Athens authorities on Tuesday by her
father, Randy Grant, when she did not show up for work Sunday or Monday at
UGA's Veterinary Teaching Hospital. She also failed to show up to interview
for a job she had been very excited about, Randy Grant said. Athens-Clarke police confirmed that their investigation had taken them
to Wilkes County, where Athens-Clarke investigators were working with the GBI
and the Wilkes County Sheriff's Department. Grant lived with a roommate at a Barnett Shoals Road apartment, who
reported last seeing the missing woman at about 2:30 p.m. Saturday. A UGA
co-worker told police of seeing Grant at the Super Wal-Mart on Lexington Road
later that same day. Athens-Clarke police said they reviewed store surveillance tapes, but
did not see anything suspicious. The investigation determined she had
purchased a bottle of over-the-counter sleeping pills at the Wal-Mart. The roommate said that Grant had been depressed over the recent death
of a friend. Randy Grant said the only things missing from his daughter's apartment
were her wallet and truck keys, and that she had not taken her pocketbook. Wilkes County Deputy Coroner Blake Thompson said that Grant's family
was going to provide the woman's dental records and fingerprints to assist
with identification.
Published in the Athens
Banner-Herald on Friday, August 6, 2004 |
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