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Woman found in Belews Lake had been reported missing
Stokes County Sheriff's Office
Ashley Denise Ward
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Published: June 5, 2009
Updated: 06/05/2009 05:30 pm
The body found floating in a pond near Belews Lake Tuesday has been identified as that of a Mount Airy woman whose mother had reported her missing last weekend.
The death of Ashley Denise Ward, 24, is being investigated as a homicide, Forsyth County authorities said.
Ward's mother had reported her missing on May 30. She told Stokes County authorities that she had last spoken to her daughter about 3 or 3:30 p.m. that day, according to a report.
At that time, Ward was visiting her boyfriend in Walnut Cove, said Maj. Durwood Bennett, the chief deputy of the Stokes County sheriff's office.
"Evidently, he was the last person to see her alive," Bennett said.
Bennett declined to say if the boyfriend had been questioned about Ward's death. Bennett referred further questions about the case to the Forsyth sheriff's office.
State and local investigators are pursuing leads about her death, the Forsyth sheriff's office said.
Her body was discovered about 2 p.m. Tuesday, and it was pulled from the water about five hours later.
Ward's body was in a cove too shallow to reach by boat. Investigators used all-terrain vehicles to get to the body.
"Her mother was resigned to the fact that it was her daughter" who was found near Belews Lake, Bennett said.
Ward's body was taken to the Office of the Medical Examiner in Chapel Hill, Ward was identified through dental records, said Sharon Artis, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner's officer.
John Hinton can be reached at 727-7299 or at jhinton@wsjournal.com.
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