Autopsy results are expected to provide some answers as to how a Brookville High School principal and his hunting friend died in a boating accident Saturday.
Those results haven’t come in yet, but what investigators do know is that Jim Worley, 60, of Forest, and Terrell Reid, 61, of Lynchburg, set out from Staunton River State Park in Reid’s 16-foot Crestliner johnboat to go duck hunting when the boat collided with a submerged tree and capsized, said Julia Dixon, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
The autopsy will tell investigators whether the men drowned, died from hypothermia or suffered some kind of trauma that would have prevented them from swimming to safety.
The two men had been hunting the day before and headed back out Saturday after two other men in their hunting party had already left, Dixon said.
Those two men were headed back to the park, located where the Dan and Staunton rivers merge, when they came across Reid’s capsized boat and called 911 around 10 a.m., she said.
At the same time, a property owner in the area noticed a dog walking near the shore and walked down to check it out when he noticed the capsized and partially submerged boat and also called 911.
Conservation police officers searched the area and found Worley and Reid’s bodies in the water within the hour. Both men were wearing waders, but did not have on life jackets.
Dixon said the boat still had its navigation lights on, which was a critical piece in helping investigators determine when the wreck happened.
“Reid was an experienced boater,” Dixon said. “Both were outdoorsmen and were well acquainted with that lake.”
The 1976 model johnboat had a deep gash that spanned almost the full length of the boat, Dixon said.
Near where the boat was found, investigators also found a large, submerged tree that had paint from Reid’s boat on it.
Dixon said it is common for rain to wash trees and debris into that section of the lake, which is five to eight feet deep.
“This looks like a terrible accident,” she said. “When you are outdoors, it’s not a static environment. The environment can change and you have to be careful.”
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