Update 6 p.m.
The body of 64-year-old Julia Shew still has not been found.
Police have been searching the Occoquan River since she failed to check in with a park attendant Saturday night, at Sandy Run Regional Park in southern Fairfax County.
Police on Tuesday scaled back their search, using a Marine Patrol Unit with divers in the water and a helicopter, said Fairfax County police spokesman Bud Walker.
They also used bloodhounds on the shoreline.
Police suspended their search at 6 p.m., but say they will return to the area to look for the woman at 7 a.m. Wednesday.
—
Fairfax County, Va. –– The search for a missing boater will be scaled back today after rescuers in Fairfax County during a recovery operation Monday found no sign of the woman.
Julia Shew, 64, disappeared Saturday on the Occoquan River, off Sandy Run Regional Park, while training for a boat race that went on without her Sunday.
Though searchers will once again take to the water where she was last seen, fewer searchers will be deployed on the shorelines. The search in recent days has prompted the closure of Sandy Run and Fountain Head regional parks.
“We are shrinking our footprint to just the boat launch at Fountainhead Park, all other park facilities will be open,” said Fairfax County police spokesman Bud Walker.
Today’s search will include marine and patrol divers.
Last night searchers called off operations at 6:30 p.m.
Employees at Sandy Run Regional Park became concerned Saturday when Shew did not check back in when it came time for the park to close, and when police began their search for the woman, they found her boat capsized in the water.
According to investigating officials, there were unusual one to two foot waves on the Occoquan the night Shew disappeared.
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