UNSOLVED VA - Chesterfield Co, Skeletal Remains, in car in Appomattox River, Jun'10

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mysticrose said:
The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge carries Jefferson Davis Highway (U.S. Route 1 and U.S. Route 301) across the Appomattox River at the fall line. It joins Colonial Heights and Petersburg, Virginia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr._Memorial_Bridge
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MartinLutherKingJrMemorialBridge-1.png
 
newportnewscolonialheightscolonmich.jpg

There is a remote possibility that it could be Venus Rose Stewart whose estranged husband traveled from Newport News, Virgina (C) to Colon, Michigan (B) on April 25, 2010 where he reportedly lured her out of her home during the early morning on April 26, 2010, after stopping at an Ohio Walmart to purchase a shovel, hat, tarp and gloves, then murdered her and immediately drove back to his home in Newport News, Virginia.
(A represents where the car was found.)
​
Link to Venus Rose Stewart Websleuths thread:[/CENTER]
MI MI Venus Rose Stewart Colon, 28 April 2010-#9 DS arrested suspected murder/kidnapping - Page 19 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community
 
I am from the area where the body was found and am very familiar with the roads/etc. So, regarding Venus - if he avoided taking interstates 95 and 64 going home from Michigan and instead took 1/301 and 460, he would have passed over this bridge getting from 1/301 to 460.
 
PickieChickie said:
There is a remote possibility that it could be Venus Rose Stewart whose estranged husband traveled from Newport News, Virgina (C) to Colon, Michigan (B) on April 25, 2010 where he reportedly lured her out of her home during the early morning on April 26, 2010, after stopping at an Ohio Walmart to purchase a shovel, hat, tarp and gloves, then murdered her and immediately drove back to his home in Newport News, Virginia.
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If he murdered her and than sent the car over the bridge, he would have had to have a vehicle waiting for him near the bridge, or else find some other way home. The items purchased at Walmart would either still be in the car, or else he took them with him or disposed of them somewhere along the way. The logistics just seem a little too complicated.
 
PickieChickie said:
MartinLutherKingJrMemorialBridge-1.png
Click to expand...

milkymama said:
I am from the area where the body was found and am very familiar with the roads/etc. So, regarding Venus - if he avoided taking interstates 95 and 64 going home from Michigan and instead took 1/301 and 460, he would have passed over this bridge getting from 1/301 to 460.
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Would the bridge be the four lane bridge on the right or the two lane bridge on the left?

Thank you, that's what I thought. Since Doug didn't park the truck in it's assigned parking spot at the apartment complex when he returned to Newport News after abducting and murdering Venus, but instead parked it on the street, it's clear he wasn't following a normal routine to avoid detection.

He could have been worried that an APB was out for him and that truck, that law enforcement was on the look out for him to be driving a particular route and did indeed take a detour.

However, that wouldn't explain where the car came from unless he had planned in advance to have a car with perhaps the vin numbers and license plates removed on standby near the area.

I doubt it's Venus. But, considering he was elaborate enough to enlist an impostor to pose as him in Newport News while he was off in Michigan abducting and murdering Venus, no telling what else he came up with!
 
It is the smaller one on the left. The other bigger one is I95. The car would have had to be put in the water from below, I would think. There is a railing on the side of the bridge that would prevent a car going over the side. Only other way is it was an accident and the car flew through the air.
 
There's something really wrong with the reporting on this story, or I've developed a serious case of stupid. I'm willing to concede, naturally, that the latter could be the case, however...

The written articles make mention of I95 and the 53 mile marker, which is indeed on I95. But the bridge, referred to as the MLK JR isn't on I95, it's on route 1, which is due west of I95.

If I'm looking at what little video there is available, and I'm not mistaking what I grew up looking at....this is the bridge under which they found this car.... And if you were to zoom out on this photo, you'd see why I know the area so well. You'll see the house where I grew up a hop, skip and a jump across the open field and the river.

NOT the Martin Luther King Jr bridge...I promise.

This is taken from underneath, on Magazine Road. See the people in the background? This would be the approximate spot where they found the car.

MLKJR4.jpg


from 95, right above the spot where the car was found....that wall is 42" tall (standard) according to VDOT.
MLKJR3.jpg


MLKJR.jpg


MLK2.jpg


You see a small parking area off of Magazine Road that leads to the river. It's just south of the bridge in the above pics. That's where the police cars were sitting in video footage from the scene.

The entire area, other than acceess to that parking area, is blocked off from the road by guard rails.

I would think if this car was dumped, the person(s) who did it had to know the depth of the water here in order to know the car would be totally submerged. No way this car came off of 95 and slammed into the river upright and with all of it's windows intact...right?

So if I'm getting old and I don't recognize the place I grew up anymore as well as I'd like to think I do, please accept my apologies. And fyi...my house? Look across the river, see the big white house sitting to the left, kinda separated from the rest on the street? It sits on a hill in a clearing, in front of a private road leading to the river. That was home.
 
Shutterfly said:
There's something really wrong with the reporting on this story, or I've developed a serious case of stupid. I'm willing to concede, naturally, that the latter could be the case, however...

The written articles make mention of I95 and the 53 mile marker, which is indeed on I95. But the bridge, referred to as the MLK JR isn't on I95, it's on route 1, which is due east of I95.

If I'm looking at what little video there is available, and I'm not mistaking what I grew up looking at....this is the bridge under which they found this car.... And if you were to zoom out on this photo, you'd see why I know the area so well. You'll see the house where I grew up a hop, skip and a jump across the open field and the river.

NOT the Martin Luther King Jr bridge...I promise.

This is taken from underneath, on Magazine Road. See the people in the background? This would be the approximate spot where they found the car.

MLKJR4.jpg


from 95, right above the spot where the car was found....that wall is 42" tall (standard) according to VDOT.
MLKJR3.jpg


MLKJR.jpg


MLK2.jpg


You see a small parking area off of Magazine Road that leads to the river. It's just south of the bridge in the above pics. That's where the police cars were sitting in video footage from the scene.

The entire area, other than acceess to that parking area, is blocked off from the road by guard rails.

I would think if this car was dumped, the person(s) who did it had to know the depth of the water here in order to know the car would be totally submerged. No way this car came off of 95 and slammed into the river upright and with all of it's windows intact...right?

So if I'm getting old and I don't recognize the place I grew up anymore as well as I'd like to think I do, please accept my apologies. And fyi...my house? Look across the river, see the big white house sitting to the left, kinda separated from the rest on the street? It sits on a hill in a clearing, in front of a private road leading to the river. That was home.
Click to expand...

What an amazing and informative post! I loved it more than words can describe! Thank you for taking the time to take the pictures and prepare your post, all of which took considerable time.

How in the world did the car get down into the river? This is so strange!

Could the current be strong enough, during a heavy rain storm, to move it down the river so it ended up under the bridge, perhaps after running into an obstruction?

The only way I can think of for a vehicle to end up directly below the bridge after having been on the bridge without leaving any evidence on the guard rails would be if it were lifted by a crane and dropped in there!

The silence of the police department about this case is baffling, to say the least. One would think they would be able to determine the point of entry by carefully examining the bank.

It will be interesting to see how much information they release when and if a follow up article comes out.

The part that puzzled me is they were trying to determine the vehicle's owner. Generally, a VIN number can be located within minutes and a license plate run.

Were the license plates removed?

Was the VIN number removed or ground off?

What person drives somewhere without at least one laminated card in their purse, pocket, wallet or car with information on it that could identify them?

It sounds to me like whomever put the body and the car into the river did everything in their power to make sure the victim would not easily be identified or the owner of the vehicle located.

The fact the antenna appeared to be broken off so it wouldn't stick up out of the river surely indicates foul play.
 
Even if a VIN number is ground off and the license number removed, there are plenty of other traceable serial numbers on the engine and drive train, and other "secret" locations on various parts of the vehicle.

It is highly unlikely that someone could eliminate all traceable serial numbers from a late-model vehicle.
 
CarlK90245 said:
Even if a VIN number is ground off and the license number removed, there are plenty of other traceable serial numbers on the engine and drive train, and other "secret" locations on various parts of the vehicle.

It is highly unlikely that someone could eliminate all traceable serial numbers from a late-model vehicle.
Click to expand...

That's good to know. Thank you
 
If someone murdered this person and dumped the car there, I'm willing to bet that person would also be capable of stealing a car to dump the body in.

Just a thought.
 
It's pretty easy for a car to go over those 42" barriers in winter, when there's a snowbank making a sort of ramp up to it -- and yes, often the cars do land right side up without breaking anything. Happens around here a couple of times every winter. But I don't know whether this area gets enough snow for that to be a possibility.
 
carbuff said:
It's pretty easy for a car to go over those 42" barriers in winter, when there's a snowbank making a sort of ramp up to it -- and yes, often the cars do land right side up without breaking anything. Happens around here a couple of times every winter. But I don't know whether this area gets enough snow for that to be a possibility.
Click to expand...

That is an excellent point. I didn't think about snow.
 
carbuff said:
It's pretty easy for a car to go over those 42" barriers in winter, when there's a snowbank making a sort of ramp up to it -- and yes, often the cars do land right side up without breaking anything. Happens around here a couple of times every winter. But I don't know whether this area gets enough snow for that to be a possibility.
Click to expand...

This area of Virginia isn't well known for it's snowfall amounts as a rule. It does tend to pile up further into northern Virginia though. Actually, speaking of snow....I read somewhere that it's been said this car has been in the water for weeks. Virginia did have several inches of snow late January into early February. I believe Petersburg and Colonial Heights got a little over half a foot each time.

As for a car coming off the bridge....know also that there are unbelievably large boulders lurking just beneath the surface of the river in this area. I'm still trying to figure out how the h*ll anyone managed to get a car in that water without getting it lodged on rocks. It's difficult enough to navigate a boat through there without scraping your bottom up.
 
Shutterfly said:
This area of Virginia isn't well known for it's snowfall amounts as a rule. It does tend to pile up further into northern Virginia though. Actually, speaking of snow....I read somewhere that it's been said this car has been in the water for weeks. Virginia did have several inches of snow late January into early February. I believe Petersburg and Colonial Heights got a little over half a foot each time.

As for a car coming off the bridge....know also that there are unbelievably large boulders lurking just beneath the surface of the river in this area. I'm still trying to figure out how the h*ll anyone managed to get a car in that water without getting it lodged on rocks. It's difficult enough to navigate a boat through there without scraping your bottom up.
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This is most puzzling! I sure hope law enforcement releases more details soon. Our luck it will be a two line update that says very little and that will be the end of it.
 
Kimberlyd125 said:
If someone murdered this person and dumped the car there, I'm willing to bet that person would also be capable of stealing a car to dump the body in.

Just a thought.
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True, but you have to add, who is gonna do both AND travel half way across the country to do it?

In Venus's case, she was likely reported missing immediately.... and LE had an idea immediately..... It would be by pure chance and luck that DS would have made it so many miles on an unlikely route and for this UID to be Venus.

For those of you from Venus's forum who have taken your time to come here to read the UID thread I would like to mention CarlK90245 is someone I would highly recommend paying very close attention to. We have a few here, and I am hoping you will take the time to get to know Carl, and the other very loyal 'diehard' (I'm a Cub fan, gotta use my lingo) UID posters we have here. They are all a fantastic example, even when they have differences of idea's and opinions their example here at WS is amazing.

The diehards here know their stuff. Definately worth shadowing for serious sleuths.

Thanks Carl, and the others... too many to list... Chaddy, Mensch,carbuff... and anyone else I forgot.

Great job!

Cubby
 
This sounds like the old cement shoes type of disappearance to me. Aslo longer than a couple of months, IMO. There might have been some construction going on and a guardrail was being repaired. Then somebody was told to the other way.
 
grayjay said:
This sounds like the old cement shoes type of disappearance to me. Aslo longer than a couple of months, IMO. There might have been some construction going on and a guardrail was being repaired. Then somebody was told to the other way.
Click to expand...

Now that Ricky Spencer, the 20 year old Bear, Delaware man Venus's husband Doug Stewart enlisted to pose as him in Newport News, Virginia while he (Doug) was off abducting and murdering Venus has testified at Doug's preliminary hearing (July 1, 2010) that Doug called him and said he had to dig another hole because there were people to close to the one he'd dug, I doubt even more that this is Venus.

I suspected he'd buried her because of the fact he purchased a shovel the day prior to her abduction. However, one never knows as there can always be a change in plans when things don't work out as anticipated.
 
milkymama said:
Has Gerald "Randy" Marion ever been found?

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60251&page=3
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Gerald Randy Marion has not been found. However, his ATV was found upside down in the Appomattox River according to the Charley Project link in his thread. If he were in the river it would be unlikely he would be found in a car, unless he was able to get away from the ATV and somehow entered the river while in the car attempting to pull the ATV from the river. I think if that were the case there would be more info on his attempting to get the ATV pulled from the river.

Geralds Charley Project link with the info regarding the ATV
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/marion_gerald.html

JMO
 
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