Man finds body along river

UPDATE 2/22/23 @ 10 p.m.

MASON COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) - Investigators are trying to determine the identity of a woman whose body was found Wednesday afternoon along the Kanawha River in Mason County.

“It was pretty shocking,” Dean Priddy, who discovered the body, said, “because I didn’t expect to see anything like that.”

Priddy lives in Leon near the town’s public boat dock and fishes there often.

After 1 p.m., he says he went to see how much debris left by the high water would have to be cleared away.

“I was probably about 35 yards from the actual boat dock because of all the mud,” Priddy said.

Priddy says he saw what appeared to be the body of a woman lying on the dock. He says part of the body was in the water.

“I’d never seen a body like that before,” he said. “Finally I figured out that’s what it’s got to be.”

He called 911. He also called a friend and told him to bring boots so he could get through the mud and get a closer look to confirm what he was seeing.

“He walked down through the mud and confirmed it was a body,” Priddy said.

The Mason County Sheriff’s Department and West Virginia State Police responded to the scene.

Priddy says to him, it appeared the body had come down the river and gotten stuck there.

“It bothered me a little bit, yes it did,” he said. “It was disturbing.”

Priddy is hoping it won’t take investigators long to determine who this was and what happened to her, and his thoughts are with whoever may have been missing this woman.

“That would mean a lot that they find out who she is and let her family know that they did find her,” he said.

The body has been sent to the medical examiner’s office.

ORIGINAL STORY

MASON COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -A body has been found Wednesday in Mason County, West Virginia, according to Mason County Sheriff Corey Miller.

Sheriff Corey Miller tells WSAZ.com a female was found at the public boat ramp in Leon.

The sheriff’s office responded to a 911 call about a possible body in the water near the ramp around 1:45 p.m. Wednesday.

The incident remains under investigation.

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