James River drowning victim identified

The rails of the James River Foot Bridge near Snowden are a frequent jumping point for thrill-seekers.

Sunday afternoon, a jump-and-swim from that bridge turned deadly for Travis Campbell Farren, 20, of Montvale, said Maj. Ricky Gardner of the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office.

Local authorities aren’t aware of any other drownings at the site.

“People have been doing it for years,” Gardner said. “It’s not against the law but it may not be the smartest thing to do. People should just think before they do.”

Farren and his friend had jumped from the bridge many times before Sunday and had jumped a couple of times already that day without any problems, Gardner said.

“We don’t know what happened,” Gardner said. “They weren’t using drugs or alcohol. They weren’t doing anything that is against the law.”

Farren surfaced after his final jump, but didn’t make it to shore.

Bedford County Sheriff’s deputies, investigators and the Big Island Rescue Squad responded to the scene after receiving a 911 call around 3:30 p.m. Sunday. Two divers from the Smith Mountain Lake Volunteer Fire Department were called to the scene and used underwater cameras to locate and recover the body that afternoon.

The 623-feet-long pedestrian bridge is about 50 feet high, said Gary Roakes, public safety director for Amherst County. The water near the center of the river is about 20 feet deep, he said.

Annie Downing, district ranger for the National Forest Service, said the river is inherently dangerous and its depth and hazards are constantly changing.

“There is no prohibition against jumping from the bridge,” Downing said. “The railing is seven to eight feet high for a reason. That is so we don’t have to prohibit it. The railing is a sign that there is danger below, to stay on the bridge. … People need to realize it is not a swimming area. It is not a jumping platform.

“There is 1.7 million acres of national forest. We can’t prohibit and we can’t control an individual’s decision making.”

The James River, like all rivers, is constantly changing, she said. Logs, rocks and other debris roll along the bottom. It swells and shrinks based on the weather. There’s no way of predicting just what someone is jumping into.

“I am sickened by the fact that there is a family dealing with this terrible loss,” Downing said.

Several people were jumping from the bridge Monday afternoon.

Teenager Chris Adams of Amherst County said he didn’t know that someone had drowned the day before.

“I regretted it, a lot,” he said. “I kind of felt stupid after I did it. I won’t be doing it again. It was kind of scary at first, like you know when you get up there and look down, you don’t want to do it.”

Harlie Murphy, also of Amherst County, said her Monday jump terrified her and she doesn’t plan on coming back.

“We were just standing over there and the guy walked by and he was like, ‘You know my cousin died over here yesterday,’” she said. “It was just all of a sudden.”

Jack Jones, chief of Bedford County’s Fire and Rescue, doesn’t recall another drowning at that location.

“People will jump off the bridge,” he said. “It’s what they do. It is for the tough of heart.”

The Balcony Falls area, a little upstream from the bridge, has been the site of several drownings over the years.

The most recent drowning was that of Liberty University student Aaron Cooper in 2006. He and a friend tried to float through the falls in inflatable rafts designed for use in swimming pools. In 2004, Joseph Wheeler, a camper from Rockbridge County, drowned near the falls. Three years earlier, Joseph William Henderson’s body was found near the same location.