SURRY, Va. — Authorities recovered the body of a boater who went missing in the James River earlier this week.
A Virginia Marine Police spokesperson told 13News Now that someone found the body in the river near Mt. Pleasant Plantation around 8:45 a.m. Thursday.
Marine Police recovered it around 10 a.m. They positively identified the remains as that of 34-year-old Russell Hines.
Hines was reported missing Monday morning after a kayaker found his boat aground with the engine still running.
A joint agency effort was launched to find Hines, but after teams scouted roughly 200 square miles searching for him, the search and rescue mission ended up turning into a recovery operation.
Officials will send Hines' body to the Medical Examiner's Office in Richmond. Virginia Marine Police are still investigating this case.