RICHMOND, Va. -- Tuesday morning's drowning in the James River beneath the Manchester Bridge has turned into something of a mystery.
Who was the man who was with the woman who drowned in the dangerous hydraulics below the partially submerged levee that once fed Richmond's old hydroelectric plant?
That man told rescuers and police he had just met the woman. They had been drinking and waded out in the water, only to get stuck in the muddy bottom and then drifted downriver.
Since there was no sign of foul play and solid witness accounts, the man was treated for hypothermia and then disappeared.
Police later came to believe he had a fake ID, a Richmond police source said.
Then investigators identified the drowning victim 36-year-old Amy Sue Briscoe, who was wanted in connection with a February methamphetamine lab explosion in Steuben County, New York.
Amy Briscoe
Also on the run from that apartment explosion is 27-year-old Harold Warner, who had been in a relationship with Briscoe since November, according to her Facebook page.
Was he with her when she drowned?
I spoke by phone with Amy Briscoe's heartbroken mom, Diane Briscoe of New York.
She said she had a brief conversation with her daughter last weekend.
"She called to wish me a happy Easter and told me she loved me," she said.
The mom said she doesn't know what brought her daughter to Richmond or whether Warner was with her.
"Her life wasn't great," she sobbed. "But she was alive."
