Seventeen-year-old Elwood Hudgins was found drowned in Virginia’s Indian River, but police believed his death had begun on the bridge above.
Their theory was that a bootlegger transporting illegal liquor struck the boy with a small car while crossing Oaklette Bridge. Panicked and desperate to conceal the accident, the driver allegedly carried Hudgins to the end of the bridge, lifted him over the railing, and threw him into the shallow water below.
Doctors found only minor bruises on the body and determined that the teenager had drowned. As authorities prepared for a coroner’s inquest, police announced that they expected to make an arrest within twenty-four hours.
Boy Thrown In River, Police Theory
NORFOLK, Virginia. — That a bootlegger, scared out of his wits, threw Elwood Hudgins, seventeen, into the Indian River last Sunday, when his small car, loaded with liquor from Princess Anne County or North Carolina, struck the boy on the Oaklette Bridge over the Indian River, is the theory of county police.
An arrest is expected within 24 hours.
Examination of young Hudgins’ body revealed only minor bruises, and doctors stated he had drowned.
Indications, county police say, are the Hudgins was struck near the middle of the bridge and that the driver carried him to the end of the bridge and threw him over a 4-foot railing into shallow water.
A coroner’s inquest will be held Monday.
Source: The Washington Times. Washington, D.C. October 4, 1924.
