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EVIDENT Case File - The Mountain Lake Mystery

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The Search for Evidence in Mountain Lake
Mountain Lake is a naturally occurring lake located in the mountains of Giles County, VA. Since 2002 the lake level has fluctuated significantly, resulting in an almost completely dry lake bed as of 2008. Situated on the shore of the 50 acre lake is the Mountain Lake Resort. Mountain Lake Resort has been in operation since prior to The Civil War. The newly dry lake bed has drawn a surprising number of visitors who have searched the lake bottom for any lost valuables.
On September 20th, 2008 a father and son were walking along the lake bed looking for old bottles. They found an old pair of leather shoes imbedded in the drying lake sediment. Near the shoes they located several small personal items including a monogrammed silver cigarette case and belt buckle. Upon further inspection of the area later that day, human bones were discovered. Giles County Sheriff's Office and local archaeologists from Radford University were contacted for assistance with the recovery.
Two days later on September 22nd, 2008 Investigator Mark Skidmore with Giles County Sheriff's Office contacted EVIDENT and requested Michael Grimm Sr. and Micheal Grimm Jr. to assist with the investigation. They traveled to nearby Giles County and met with Inv. Skidmore at the sheriff's office. There they examined the personal items which were found, including remnants of black clothing which are believed to be from a pin-striped wool suit. A gold class ring was also located. This ring combined with the monogrammed cigarette case and belt buckle would later lead to a probable identification.
Mike Sr., Mike Jr., and Inv. Skidmore then traveled the short distance to Mountain Lake. The dry lake is an incredible sight, with it's deepest point at approximately 100 feet. The location of the human remains was approximately in the center of the lake bed, at a depth of about 50 feet below the previous water level. The human remains and other personal items had all been removed.
Mike Sr. began searching the area with a metal detector. Like most areas that are frequented by humans, there was significant metallic trash. Each time trash is dug at a crime scene, the trash should be removed from the scene to reduce the chance of additional and redundant recovery efforts. The entire area around the remains was carefully searched using a random pattern and a hand-held GPS unit.
Several items of interest were located during the initial metal detector search. An apparent house or hotel key was discovered. Within about 20 feet of the located human remains Mike Sr. dug three spent .32 caliber rounds and three .32 caliber shell casings. The shell casings appeared to be made of copper and the rounds were all solid lead. The spent ammunition was found approximately 20' from the remains. As the sun set on the location the search was ended.
Three weeks later on October 15th, 2008 Mike Sr. and Mike Jr. returned to the site to apply a more efficient search technique. Using GPS the original site of the human remains was located (red arrow) and a 100' x 7' lane (highlighted yellow) was staked off over the top of the remains site. Wooden stakes and fluorescent string were used to clearly define the lane. This search lane would provide a specific area to efficiently cover. Additional lanes were added to either side of the initial search lane as the metal detector search began.
Mike Sr. carefully searched the initial three lanes by sweeping the metal detector back and forth between the fluorescent strings. The lanes are established at a width appropriate for the user of the metal detector. At 7' wide Mike Sr. was able to comfortably search each lane and overlap each pass with the adjoining lane. This reduces the chance of missed evidence.
Mike Jr. continued to establish additional parallel search lanes along the two outer edges of the pattern. Mike Sr. continued to search with the metal detector. This team approach increased the efficiency of the search and reduced the amount of time needed at the scene. As each lane was search it was effectively excluded.
As the search patterned widened Mike Sr. began locating additional .32 caliber rounds and .32 caliber shell casings, identical to the the rounds and casings found on September 22nd. These items lined up in a linear pattern with the initial rounds and casings. This linear pattern crossed over the search area in close relation to the location of the human remains.
After Mike Sr. completed the search of the initial three lanes, Mike Jr. began "leap-frogging" the inner-most lanes to the outer edges of the pattern. After a search was completed on a lane, the lane would be shifted to the outside of the pattern, thus increasing the search area from both sides and eliminating the inner lanes.
Continual searching and shifting of the lanes resulted in a search area of over 10,000 square feet. Every single bit of metallic debris or evidence that could be located within the search area was recovered. The corners of the search pattern were marked with GPS for future reference.
The conditions within the lake bed resulted in a thick layer of dried silt which was heavily fractured due to the dry conditions. Most items were found embedded within this layer of dried silt. Each time trash or debris was dug it would be removed to a specific trash location.
Following the additional search efforts within the lake bed several amateur researchers found documentation from 1921 detailing a drowning in Mountain Lake. It is believed that Samuel Ira Felder was vacationing at the resort in 1921 when he fell from a boat carrying his wife and two other individuals. The remains have not been positively identified and efforts to possibly use DNA are ongoing. The discovery of the .32 caliber rounds and shell casings in such close proximity to the human remains brings more questions than they answer. Conflicting reports from the time of the supposed drowning combined with the amount of time that has past make this a true mystery.

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