RedactedNarrative: On June 2nd, 2020 at approximately 1417, I received a call  in reference to an abandoned kayak that was found on the James River. I immediately made contact with CCC Dispatch and was informed that they had received a call about a kayak that had washed ashore at Ft. Pocahontas off Sturgeon Point Road. 
  
  CCC Sheriffs Office had responded to the scene and located the kayak with several items of clothing as well as a backpack with food and other essential items in it. There was also a Personal Flotation Device strapped down to the kayak. Due to the items located in the kayak, CCC Sheriffs Office asked for assistance in attempting to locate the individual who owned it as they could be in the water. I informed them that I would respond by land and I would have another Conservation Police Officer (CPO) respond by boat. 
  
  I made contact with CPO and asked him to grab one of our boats from the Region 1 Office and come down river to the location of the kayak. I arrived on scene at approximately 1434 and made contact with the CCC Deputies on scene. They stated that no one had been down to the beach since Sunday, May 31st, and the kayak could have washed ashore at anytime after that. The Deputies then provided me with a Virginia Identification Card, that was located with the items on the kayak. I also ran Victim through LINX in hopes to find a contact number or address in an attempt to locate the individual. 
  
  CCC Sheriffs Office was able to determine that Victim's address on his ID card was not a current address for him as it was showing he had been evicted from the residence. I was able to locate an address and contacted the Dispatch Center and asked if they had any records of the current address for Victim. Before I was able to finish spelling out Victim's name to the dispatcher, she stopped me and stated she knew exactly who I was looking for and stated that he had not lived in the county for a few years now. 
  
  I informed her that we were attempting to locate Victim due to a kayak washing ashore with his ID card in it. The dispatcher stated she would attempt to locate a phone number for Victim and would call me back. A short time later the dispatcher called me back and gave me Victim's last know cell phone number as well as the phone number to Victim's mother. I attempted to call both numbers and did not receive an answer on either. I left a voice-mail on Victim's mother's cell phone and asked her to call me back as soon as possible. At this time CPO, a CCC Deputy, and I started searching the shorelines in the immediate area by boat. While searching the area I received a callback from Victim's mother. I informed her that we had located a kayak with his ID card in it and were attempting to locate him. She stated that she had not heard from him in over a week and that he was homeless and did not have a permanent address. She also stated several times that he had a bad drinking issue and was often drunk. I informed her that we were searching the river in the area the kayak had washed ashore but we had not located anything yet.  
  
      On June 3rd, 2020, at approximately 1050, I received a phone call from Sgt. who stated they were unable to locate Victim at the homeless camps and that his cell phone was still "pinging" in the Richmond area. He then asked if we could launch a boat and follow through with the original plan to search the small islands on the James River. While off Weyanoke Point on the James River, I located something floating in the water, that appeared to be white in color, up on a shallow mud flat. We slowly approached the object and at approximately 1402 we were able to determine it was a body. Sgt. contacted the M.E.'s office for permission to move the body so we could recover it. Based on a tattoo on the back of the body, Sgt. was positive it was Victim. The GPS coordinates for the location of the body was 37.27473, 077.07722. This was approximately 5.3 miles up river from where the kayak had been located.
  