
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 11, 1991                   TAG: 9102110144
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHESTERFIELD                                LENGTH: Short

BODY FOUND IN SEARCH FOR GIRL, 10

A body exhumed Sunday from a shallow grave in Chesterfield County will be taken to the state medical examiner's office, Chesterfield police said.

Forensic officers have found items of possible evidence close to the grave site, Capt. J.P. Bourque said. No cause of death could be determined.

Police said the medical examiner's office will try to determine if the remains are of 10-year-old Charity Amberly Powers, who disappeared Oct. 6.

Bourque said police searched the woods thoroughly because it was near where Charity was last seen. About 60 people participated in the extensive ground search.

Charity's mother, Taryn Potts, talked with police after the remains were found on Friday.

"I've driven down there several times. They haven't told me anything," Potts said. "I've been on nerve's end. They've been putting her face on television a lot. I've been trying to block it out of my mind."

Charity disappeared the morning of Oct. 6 after leaving Chester Skateland, where she had been dropped off by her mother. She apparently left the rink after it closed at midnight.

In a news release Friday, police suggested Charity had been abducted.

"We never presumed that she had run away," Bourque said. "It's a safe conclusion that she had been taken away."

by CNB