SILVERTON, W.Va. — State Police say two men checking on a fox den made a grim discovery Tuesday, finding a pickup truck partially submerged in Sand Creek near Interstate 77.
The driver, 57-year-old Carey Emery, of Reedy, was found dead and troopers estimated he had been there three to five days.
“The neighbor fortunately had noted a fox den in the past and occasionally went out there to check it out,” said state trooper J.P. Murphy. “If he hadn’t done that, there’s no telling how long this gentleman would have been in the river.”
Murphy said Emery lived alone and didn’t have regular contact with anybody, so he hadn’t been missed.
Troopers suspected Emery was headed south on I-77. They found his tire tracks in the median where he traveled 333 feet to the edge of the road before his truck went airborne over a 50- to 60-foot embankment. It’s unclear what caused Emery to lose control.
“The truck went airborne another 130 feet as it was dropping the 50 to 60 feet,” said Murphy. “It landed nose first on some rocks and flipped end over end and landed in the creek.”
Murphy said the water level in the creek had dropped since the accident.