Police close case on missing Waynesboro woman

Authorities have ruled a Waynesboro woman’s death accidental four months after state police discovered her body along a snowy Augusta County mountainside.

But some mystery remains and apparently will forever in the case of Dannell Kraus, 32, authorities said Wednesday. Police closed the investigation this week.

“We don’t know how she got down there,” said state police Lt. Joe Rader. “There’s no evidence, signs or facts that showed any criminal misconduct that would have led to her being on the mountainside.”

Toxicology tests conducted at the state Medical Examiner’s Office in Roanoke found seven types of drugs, including cocaine, in Kraus’ system.

“The cause of death is acute combined fluoxetine, diazepam, promethazine, lamotrigine, trazodone, cocaine and ethanol toxicity and hypothermia,” said Tracie Cooper of the Medical Examiner’s Office.

State troopers found Kraus on March 14 about 100 yards down a mountain off the Howardsville Turnpike.

The drugs examiners found can be used to treat depression, anxiety, allergic reactions and seizures brought on by conditions such as epilepsy.

“They’re just the generic names for some drugs,” Cooper said.

Two days before discovering Kraus’ body, on the same day her husband, John Kraus, reported her missing to Waynesboro police, state troopers found along a roadside an abandoned 2001 Chevrolet Blazer that she’d been driving. Her body lay nearby along the mountain, but because city police did not report her missing, troopers did not know to search for her, state police said.

Waynesboro police officials and records show John Kraus alerted an officer to her case, but the policeman made a judgment call not to file a missing person report after investigating further and consulting his supervisor.

John Kraus has speculated that his wife might still be alive had the officer filed the report.

Authorities were unable to determine a time of death.

An autopsy performed on Dannell Kraus showed she died of exposure, which depends on the elements of her environment at the time, state police said.

Authorities said snow still remained on the mountainside at the time of Kraus’ death. That was a factor in preventing medical examiners from determining a time of death, authorities said.

“We did our investigation and tried to contact people who may have been associated with her,” Rader said. “But in the end, we were not able to determine why she was there.”

Dannell Kraus entered into several psychological and drug treatment programs earlier this year and pleaded guilty in Waynesboro and Augusta County circuit courts to prescription drug fraud.

Kraus, who attended Main Street United Methodist Church in Waynesboro, worked as a stay-at-home mom to raise two young daughters.

Asked about his children, John Kraus said his family is coping.

“They’re doing as good as they do, I guess,” he said. “It’s a tragedy is what it is.”