COVINGTON — Police are waiting for the results of an autopsy before deciding whether foul play was responsible for the death of Alabama businessman Lon Dowdle, whose body was found Wednesday in the Ohio River.

        "We've seen no signs of foul play; there was nothing obvious on the body like stab wounds or bullet holes, so we have to wait for the autopsy," Lt. Col. Jim Hiles of the Covington Police Department said this morning.

        Lt. Col. Hiles said the Kenton County coroner would perform an autopsy but could not say if it would be completed today.

Covington Police Officer Kelly Kinman was posted along Ky. 8 on Wednesday as emergency workers removed debris from a path leading to the riverbank where the body of Lon Dowdle was found. (Gary Landers photo) | ZOOM |

        The remains of Mr. Dowdle, of Alexander City, Ala., were found at 1:20 p.m., between the river and the floodwall along Highway Avenue. Three family friends, directed there by a psychic who called a missing-person hot line, made the discovery.

        The body was covered with heavy mud, but there didn't appear to be any visible signs of trauma or signs of foul play in the area where it was found, police spokesman Lt. Col. Jim Liles said.

        “We are treating this as a crime scene even though there are no signs that a crime has been committed at this time,” he said.

        Police would not specify whether Mr. Dowdle's wallet or the silver Rolex watch he was wearing when he disappeared were among the personal effects police found.

        Mr. Dowdle's family members and friends, in town by the dozens to help search for him, had no comment Wednesday and retreated with a minister.

        Bonnie Campaniello, 42, of west Covington, who described herself as a psychic, had called the missing-persons hot line set up for tips. The police passed the tip to the missing man's friends. Ms. Campaniello told the Enquirer she had been getting images of Mr. Dowdle's body face-down amid trees, near water. “I smelled water, but didn't see it,” she said.

Dowdle

        The area where the body was found was heavily wooded, and Mr. Dowdle's body was face down.

        Ms. Campaniello added that those images became stronger when she drove past the area where his body was recovered.

        “Every time I drove through that area, I got a biting feeling,” Ms. Campaniello said. “And it just gnawed at me.”

        She said she knew a homeless man who frequented that stretch of riverside and that he frequently panhandled near the Waffle House.

        When she drove past that area by the river at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday and saw the man, she decided to call.

        “My heart is breaking for the family,” she said outside the Holiday Inn, where she went to comfort Mr. Dowdle's family.

        David Taravella, 37, lives in a tent near where the body was recovered and witnessed its recovery. He described the body as shirtless, with no shoes or socks but clad in pants. He said the body was lying on the bank with its feet in the water and arms spread. .

        “They were hysterical. I don't blame them for being hysterical. I would have been hysterical, too, if it was my brother,” Mr. Taravella said of the three searchers.

        Police said Mr. Taravella was not a suspect.

        Mr. Dowdle was married with no children and was a sales representative for a fixtures firm owned by his father.

        When last seen, at 2:30 a.m. last Thursday, he and childhood friend John Dark, now of Fairfield, were getting out of a cab at the Waffle House at 311 Philadelphia St. in Covington after an evening of bar hopping.

        Mr. Dowdle left the cab, walked around the corner of the building and disappeared, Mr. Dark told police.

        Mr. Dark took a polygraph test on Tuesday. Police declined to discuss the results, but Mr. Dark said he passed the test.

        Mr. Dark said Wednesday he's going to Alabama and will return to Fairfield next week.

        Police said he was not among the group who discovered Mr. Dowdle's body.

        Both he and Mr. Dowdle were intoxicated the night Mr. Dowdle disappeared, Mr. Dark told police.

        Mr. Dowdle's father, Walter Dowdle, reported him missing about six hours after he disappeared, when a Kroger representative with whom Lon Dowdle had a morning meeting called to say he hadn't showed up.

        Lon Dowdle was to turn 27 on Sunday. His wife, Monique, had already bought his birthday present, a hammock, she said.

        News of Mr. Dowdle's death rocked his hometown of 16,000 residents, where prayer chains have been going for him and Mr. Dark since last Thursday.

        Theresa Luke, 23, who attended high school there with both Mr. Dowdle and Mr. Dark, said, “The whole town is in mourning. Everybody's just sick about it. ...

        “We all feel so badly for the family. Alexander City is doing everything for them,” she said.

        “The family's company has gotten at least 15,000 calls in the last few days from people wanting to help.”

        It's especially troubling for the close-knit neighbors that friends discovered his body, she said.

        “That's cruel punishment,” Ms. Luke said. “That's what they will remember the rest of their lives. We wish someone who didn't know him would have found him.”

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