tim5055
Kennesaw, GA
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Missing woman's body found in Cloudland Canyon State Park
Authorities say Judy Payne apparently fell
By CHANDLER BROWN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/24/08
Cloudland Canyon State Park — Three days after her disappearance sparked a media frenzy at this remote northwest Georgia park, searchers found the body of a 46-year-old woman who apparently fell to her death.
Searchers found Judy Payne of Rock Spring shortly after 4 p.m. at the bottom of a 250-foot cliff at this nearly 3,500-acre park, Dade County Sheriff Patrick Cannon said. He said it appeared she fell. Foul play was not suspected.
WSB-TV
Judy Payne, 46, of Rock Spring was last seen on Monday.
Payne's body was being sent to the GBI crime lab in Decatur, the sheriff said.
"Any situation with an ending like this is hard on the family as well as search and rescue teams who tried very hard to find her," Cannon said.
At a press conference less than an hour before the discovery, the sheriff said the likelihood of finding Payne alive was slim.
"We believe if she's in this park this is a recovery effort," as opposed to a rescue operation, the sheriff told reporters overlooking a 1,000-foot gorge.
Payne was last seen about 7 a.m. Monday when she left home in Rock Spring, in neighboring Walker County, to drive to work at Walter A. Wood Supply Co. in Chattanooga. She is married to Mark Payne and the couple has two grown children.
A park ranger found Payne's Mazda Miata about 10:15 p.m. Monday at the park, where she once worked as a clerk. Cannon said it appears Payne went hiking.
For three days, reporters and TV trucks lined a parking lot near a staging area at Cloudland Canyon State Park. The scene brought back memories of Meredith Emerson, 24, who was abducted and killed earlier this year in an isolated location in the federal Dawson Forest Wildlife Management Area in Northeast Georgia. Gary Hilton pleaded guilty in that slaying.
All along, the sheriff said there were no signs of foul play "but we have to exhaust all efforts," Cannon said.
Cloudland Canyon State Park, about 150 miles from Atlanta, spans 3,485 acres in extreme northwest Georgia. It straddles the Sitton Gulch Creek, creating the gorge where elevations differ from 800 to 1,980 feet, according to a Georgia state parks Web site.
The park was closed to the public on Thursday as about 60 people searched, including sheriff's deputies, GBI and FBI agents and employees of the state Department of Natural Resources.
Cadaver-sniffing dogs were brought in and an FBI airplane with heat-sensing devices flew overhead.
DNR called in a special team that rappelled into the gorge.
Tim
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2005 Fleetwood Niagara
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