Police stand by officer's judgment

Waynesboro police Wednesday stood by an officer who they said chose not to log a missing person report last week for a city woman found dead more than two days later.

Authorities discovered Dannell Carlene Kraus, 32, Sunday evening, 55 hours after state troopers found an empty sport utility vehicle on Howardsville Turnpike in Augusta County. Her husband, John, called city police Friday morning from Harrisonburg to report her and the SUV missing.

The Medical Examiner’s Office in Roanoke said Wednesday that Dannell Kraus died, in part, from exposure. John Kraus has charged that state police might have saved his wife’s life had they known to look for her after discovering his 2001 Chevrolet Blazer. She was found on a mountainside off Howardsville Turnpike.

City police closed a three-day internal investigation into the matter Wednesday.

“It comes down to a judgment of the facts that are in front of you,” said Sgt. Kelly Walker, spokesman for the Waynesboro Police Department. “Based on what that officer knew at that time, based on information he got from Mr. Kraus and based on his investigation, that’s how he came to that determination.”

Walker declined to identify the officer.

The state trooper who found the SUV saw no sign of her or footprints near the vehicle. After a license plate check registered no reference to a missing person, the trooper impounded the Blazer and had it sent to Mr. Auto Disposal in Waynesboro. State police later learned Kraus rested 100 yards below the trooper, on the mountainside, authorities said.

Had the Waynesboro officer logged a missing person report into the Virginia Criminal Information Network, the trooper who found the SUV would have been alerted to look for Kraus, Walker said.

“It was never entered,” Walker said. “And had it been — when that trooper ran it and it got towed — he would have gotten a hit on it.”

Authorities have not disclosed a time of death. Temperatures on two wet and rainy nights Friday and Saturday dipped into the 40s and 50s, according to the National Weather Service.

Walker said the officer performed a preliminary investigation before making a decision not to log the report. That included contacting the Valley Community Services Board, before which Dannell Kraus appeared Friday morning; attempting to reach her by phone; checking with Waynesboro General District Court; speaking with John Kraus; going to her home; and consulting his supervisor, Walker said.

John and Dannell Kraus were separated but still raised their children, ate dinner and spent most of their time together, John Kraus said.

“Based on this investigation and the totality of the information known at [the time], the officer determined that Mrs. Kraus did not meet the criteria to be entered as a missing person into the Virginia Criminal Information Network,” Walker said in a statement.

Walker, along with Officer Lisa Klein, of the Staunton Police Department, said they use caution when someone files a missing person report in order to respect people’s right to privacy. To warrant a report, the missing person must be endangered, a victim of abduction, a juvenile, a catastrophe victim, suffer from a disability or present “a reasonable concern,” according to the Virginia Criminal Information Network manual.

According to court records:

Earlier this year, Dannell Kraus entered into several psychological and drug treatment programs.

Kraus pleaded guilty this year in Waynesboro and Augusta County circuit courts to prescription drug fraud.

Authorities admitted her in February to Crossroads at Augusta Health, an inpatient nursing and psychological care facility that specializes in working with adults who suffer from anxiety, hopelessness, suicidal thoughts and distorted thinking. She was released from the program five days later.

The next day Waynesboro police charged her with petty larceny and providing false identification to police.

From there, she entered the Courtland Center for a two-week drug treatment program. Officials discharged her earlier than expected. According to a statement by a Courtland Center official, Kraus “wasn’t vested in the program.”

Shortly before her husband reported her missing Friday, she failed to appear in Waynesboro General District Court for an 8:30 a.m. advisement hearing.

Kraus’ relatives said she enjoyed gardening, painting and serving as a Sunday school teacher at Main Street United Methodist Church in Waynesboro. She worked as a stay-at-home mom for her two daughters, ages 4 and 11, John Kraus said.

The Rev. Neil Hough, of Main Street United Methodist, said he remembers Kraus as a compassionate woman who loved her children.

“I knew she had been fighting that demon for a long time, and it certainly is a tragedy,” Hough said. “Even when what was going in her life was taking her away from the things she wanted to do, she was still very concerned about [her children].”

Hough said Kraus had to stop instructing Sunday school once he learned about her legal problems. Even so, he said, she still showed up to watch her children sing in the children’s choir.

“I don’t pretend to be a psychologist, but I got the feeling that she couldn’t be what she wanted to be for them,” he said. “It hits close to home and makes you appreciate how fragile life is.”