Authorities identify missing James River boater

The body of a boater missing in the James River since Saturday was found yesterday, nearly 24 hours after his disappearance.

Authorities identified the boater as Spencer Barbour, 58, of Charles City.

He was thrown from the johnboat he was operating about 6 p.m. Saturday when it hit an object underwater about 200 to 300 yards upstream from a pier at Lawrence Lewis Jr. Park, said Julia Dixon, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

Barbour had been fishing and was returning with a passenger, Dixon said. He was not wearing a life jacket, she said.

Conservation police officers found the body around 6:15 p.m. yesterday, about 200 yards from the site where Barbour went into the water, Dixon said.

Dixon said the incident is being investigated, but authorities do not suspect foul play.

Fisheries officers searched for Barbour by boat and with a dive team yesterday, Dixon said. Charles City and Prince George county authorities assisted in the search.

Barbour is at least the second person this summer to die in the James River near Lawrence Lewis Jr. Park off state Route 5.

Jack Roosevelt Ross, 16, disappeared July 9 while swimming in the river. His body was found the following day.

-- Luz Lazo