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BODY FOUND
Family Left Wondering How Man Ended Up Dead In The Kanawha River

Reported by: Send eMail Leslie Rubin
Videographer: Katy Brown/Troy Morgan
Web Producer: Leslie Rubin
Also Contributing: Katy Brown
Reported: Nov. 9, 2012 3:19 PM EST
Updated: Nov. 12, 2012 10:18 PM EST

EYEWITNESS ONLINE WEBCAST VIDEO
C L I C K   T O   P L A Y
Poca , Putnam County , West Virginia

A family is tasked with trying to figure out what happened to their loved one whose body was found in the Kanawha River.

The body of Gregory Tennant, 48, was pulled from the river by the Raymond City boat docks on Friday.

"It was like a punch in the gut. It's almost surreal. Still kind of can't absorb it," says his niece, Jessica Miller.

Shock quickly turned to sadness for her and the rest of her family. Two fisherman found her uncle's body Friday afternoon. Right now, how he ended up there is a mystery that's tearing her apart.

"That's the hardest part. That was the last thing. You never want to know that your family member died that way. I would just like to think that he didn't suffer," she says.

Miller says her uncle was a drifter and struggled with alcoholism for many years, but was still a good person. She says he had many friends, and cared for his family.

She says he loved to fish, which could explain why he was near the boat docks. He wasn't reported missing because she says it wasn't unusual to not hear from him from time to time.

"I just wanted people to know that he's just not another body floating in the river, that he was a person," she said.

Tennant's family is hoping someone may have see him, or knows what he was doing in the area, and their information could help police with their investigation.

"He was just a great human being. He wore his heart on his sleeve. He had his downfalls, but he made up for it with the love that he had. He did," she said.

Putnam County Sheriff's detectives have not released a cause of death, and are waiting on the results of an autopsy. Tennant's family has been told foul play is not suspect at this point in the investigation.




The body of a man found in the Kanawha River in Putnam County has been identified.

Putnam County detectives say two fishermen found the body of 48-year-old Gregory Keith Tennant in the river by the Raymond City Boat Dock around 1pm Friday.

Tennant's body has been sent to the State Medical Examiner's Office to determine an exact cause of death.




A body has been found in Putnam County.

Dispatchers said a body was reportedly found about near the Raymond City Boat Ramp in the Kanawha River, near Poca in Putnam County, about 1 p.m. Friday. Eyewitness News has learned two fishermen spotted the body and called 911.

Putnam County deputies, members of the St. Albans Fire Department and Bancroft Fire Department responded to the scene.

Stay tuned to Eyewitness News for more on this developing story.



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