Investigator: Case might remain a mystery

With no sign of struggle, no indication she fell and only hazy ideas of when Dannell Carlene Kraus died, a state investigator said Monday the case might remain a mystery.

Lt. Joe Rader's comments came five days after the Waynesboro Police Department concluded an internal investigation into why an officer chose not to log a missing person report on Kraus, 32, into a police information database.

Kraus' husband, John, speculated last week his wife might be alive had the officer filed the report. City police stood by the officer’s decision, saying he consulted a supervisor along with criteria used to determine whether a report should be filed.

The Medical Examiner's Office in Roanoke determined Dannell Kraus died, in part, from exposure. The office is awaiting the conclusion of a toxicology report before making a final ruling on the cause of death.

"Basically, it's someone who is exposed to an environment that contributes to them dying," Rader said. "It can sometimes be heat and it can be cold weather. The big question, of course, is: was she incapacitated to the point that she couldn’t seek help or shelter for herself? I'm not sure we'll ever know that answer."

Rader said state troopers, aided by bloodhounds, found Kraus' body March 14 on a mountainside off the Howardsville Turnpike in Augusta County, in a spot where weekend rain drizzled onto snow almost 10 inches deep.

Fifty-five hours earlier, on the afternoon of March 12, state troopers found an abandoned 2001 Chevrolet Blazer. John Kraus called city police that morning from Harrisonburg to report her and the Blazer missing. A license-plate check turned up no reference to John Kraus reporting his wife missing, and so state troopers did not know to search for her, authorities said.

State police returned to the scene more than two days later after learning later about John Kraus' call, and found his wife roughly 115 yards from the spot where they discovered the Blazer.

Rader said state police at the Bureau of Criminal Investigation concluded the death was most likely not a criminal matter. Authorities have determined she died between March 11 and March 14, but cannot be more precise, Rader said.

"They can tell certain things from the body, timewise," he said. "Basically, the environment acted somewhat as a refrigerator. At some point, that impacts the ability to determine time of death. I think that's something we’ll just probably never know."

Cyril H. Wecht, a world-renowned forensic pathologist based in Pittsburgh, said pinpointing a time of death is usually difficult and imprecise.

"If the body had been found that day – Thursday or Friday – then the determination would have been a lot more meaningful," Wecht said. "By Sunday, though, you have a big, wide margin because rigormortis should have come and gone after 72 hours. And once it's gone, you don't know how long it's been gone."

Body decomposition would help determine an approximate time, but the snow and cold weather around Kraus' body would have changed decomposition factors, Wecht said.

Wecht has performed approximately 14,000 autopsies and supervised, reviewed or has been consulted on about 30,000 additional postmortem examinations.

Waynesboro police Sgt. Kelly Walker said the officer who chose not to log the missing person report in the case performed a preliminary investigation before making that decision. That included contacting the Valley Community Services Board, before which Dannell Kraus appeared on the same day her husband called city police; attempting to reach her by phone; checking with Waynesboro General District Court; speaking with John Kraus; going to her home; and the officer consulting his supervisor, Walker said.

Funeral services for Kraus were held Thursday. The family requests that memorial donations be made to Main Street United Methodist Church or the Augusta Regional Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.