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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 8, 1991                   TAG: 9103080805
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: POWHATAN                                LENGTH: Short

GIRL BELIEVED TO HAVE DIED OF NATURAL CAUSES

The body of a child found last month in Powhatan County is thought to be that of a 4-year-old girl who suffered from cerebral palsy, authorities said.

The mother, Annette S. Ayze, 33, said she buried the child in the woods after the child died from natural causes, said Capt. Vernon M. Poe of the Powhatan Sheriff's Department.

Her attorney, Robert G. Cabell Jr., said Ayze, a registered nurse, buried her half-Navaho dauther because of an American Indian belief that a body must be buried promptly after death to preserve the spirit.

The child, Lynette Janel Ayze, died Nov. 5 from medical problems she had suffered since birth, Poe said Ayze told him.

Annette Ayze is the daughter of Shirley Swiecicki, the woman who discovered the remains when they were dragged to her yard by her dog.

- Associated Press

by CNB