Posted on 06/27/2005 7:36:13 AM PDT by SmithL
It was a tragic tale.
Enjoying a sunny day on the lake with his fiance, James Woodmancy waited to be tugged out of the water and onto water skis when, suddenly, the rear of the boat ran over him. Then, as rescuers tried to pull him onto the boat, his life preserver inexplicably came off. He slipped under the water and drowned.
Or did he?
State prosecutors, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency officers and an FBI agent aren't so sure.
In fact, they're downright suspicious.
"We never found a body," Sullivan County District Attorney General Greeley Wells said.
Couple that with the fact that Woodmancy, a convicted sex offender, was a mere week away from trial on charges he exposed himself to a 9-year-old girl at the Fort Henry Mall in Kingsport, and Wells believes it adds up to a ruse by Woodmancy to fake his own death.
After reviewing the case, FBI Agent James A. Gale agreed and, with help from Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy Harr, filed a federal fugitive warrant against Woodmancy, 38, last week.
Woodmancy has run afoul of the law at least three times since moving from California to Bristol. Each time, his crimes were sexual and his victims young girls.
He was convicted in 1993 of attempting to commit aggravated sexual battery and indecent exposure in a case involving a 12-year-old girl, records show.
He had racked up a second indecent exposure conviction when, in May 1999, he was charged with exposing himself to a 9-year-old girl who was playing hide-and-seek with her brother while their mother sat nearby on a bench in the mall.
Court records state that the girl said aloud, "I'm going to hide under here," indicating a car on display inside the mall. A man later identified by authorities as Woodmancy told the girl, "Go ahead," court records state. As the girl peeked out from her hiding place, authorities alleged Woodmancy stood in front of her with his pants unzipped and his genitals exposed.
The girl ran crying to her mother, and Woodmancy ultimately was arrested, although he denied the charge. Because it was his third indecent exposure charge, the misdemeanor offense rated felony status for Woodmancy.
He was convicted at a 2001 trial and sentenced to two years. He appealed. In September 2002, the state Court of Criminal Appeals ordered a new trial.
In an opinion by Appellate Judge Gary R. Wade, the court ruled that there was sufficient evidence to convict Woodmancy. But the court ruled as error a judge's decision to allow prosecutors to bring up Woodmancy's past if he had chosen to testify.
Woodmancy did not testify, and the jury never knew he was a convicted sex offender. But Wade wrote that the judge's decision influenced Woodmancy's decision not to testify.
A new trial was set for May 2004. A week before trial, the TWRA was notified by Woodmancy's fiance, who is not identified in court records, that Woodmancy had drowned in Watauga Lake.
She told TWRA agents that Woodmancy had been accidentally struck by the boat while he was in the water preparing to water ski. She and another occupant of the boat tried to rescue him, but his life preserver came off, court records state.
But Wells said TWRA agents found the story dubious.
"The TWRA did not find anything in or around the boat - blood or anything of that nature - to indicate that he had drowned," Wells said.
FBI Agent Gale wrote in the fugitive warrant that after the reported drowning, Woodmancy's fiance began taking repeated and extended visits to the same California town where Woodmancy's relatives live.
Wells asked anyone with information about the case to contact the FBI.
Jamie Satterfield may be reached at 865-342-6308.
one wonders how this pervert was ever let out of jail in the first place.
"Very suspicious. Usually when there's a drowning, there's blood all over the place" -- Chief Wiggum
What kind of woman would marry a convicted sex offender???? She's as sick as he is!
Now I'll admit that they don't have the brightest cops in the world in Kingsport, but the did say she said she backed over him with the boat, and the last I heard those props will slice and dice. How smart are people where you live.
But the wording in the quote is funny. The props are not mentioned (in what I quoted), which makes searching for blood a little silly since this is a drowning case. But we all mis-speak from time to time.
What if it was a jet boat, with no prop?
Um, I don't think alot of people water ski off jet boats....
When I had people swimming off the stern of my sailboat in Lake Michigan a number of years ago, I'd always turn the engine off and use the sails for swimmer recovery. It was really funny one time when I had a guy on the swim ladder, a puff of wind came up, and lake Michigan almost claimed his trunks in the presence of a number of very amused ladies.
I saw a man get run over by a boat, while water skiing, in Folsom Lake. It hit his jugular and there was blood everywhere, I think there would have been at least a little blood on the boat if he had been hit.
Don't tell the millions of jet boat owners who water ski!!
They do around here. Not terribly fast skiing but a skidoo will keep you up.
Well back when I owned a jet boat, it had a 454 engine, but if you had wanted to try to hang on it would have been a lot of fun watching the wind tear your pants off.
I have water ski'd behind many a 454 and always kept my pants on. Now hitting the water, that's quite another story! We would spend days skiing at Nacimiento and San Antonio in Central California.
I'm in total agreement with you! They need to keep a sharp eye on her. Anyone who calls a sex offender their "boyfriend" needs some serious help. If he is found alive and well, she should be punished too!
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