ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, January 22, 1996 TAG: 9601220085
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CULPEPER
Four young people drowned when the rain- and snowmelt-swollen Hazel River swept their car from a bridge, the Culpeper County Sheriff's Office said Sunday.
The water washed the car driven by Andre Minifield, 20, of Brandy Station off the Virginia 625 bridge in Rixeyville late Friday or early Saturday, the Sheriff's Office said. The bridge is 10 miles northeast of Culpeper.
The car and the bodies of its three passengers were found Saturday morning. They were Paul Burrell, 16; his sister, 15-year-old Helena M. Burrell; and 14-year-old Amy S. Yancey, all of Culpeper.
With the help of a state police helicopter, Chief Deputy Lee Hart found Minifield's body about 9:20 a.m. Sunday.
Sheriff Roger Mitchell said all of the victims apparently drowned. He said it was not clear how or why Minifield got out of the car.
The water carried the car into a large field north of the river, bringing it to rest 200 yards off the road and approximately 100 yards from the normal river bed. The water there was about 5 feet high when the river crested, Mitchell said.
The Hazel overran its banks Friday. The Virginia Department of Transportation had barricaded the bridge.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 36 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB