There has been no sign of a 64-year-old woman who disappeared over the weekend while rowing on the Occoquan River.
Julia Shew, of Northern Virginia, disappeared Saturday during a solo training session. Fairfax County Police Officer Bud Walker said the last time she was seen isn’t known, but Sandy Run Regional Park officials doing an inventory at 5 p.m. noticed her rowing scull had not returned. It was found capsized minutes later.
Searchers first looked for Shew on land and in the water. But the land search was called off late Saturday as the operation switched from a rescue to recovery effort.
Police and fire/rescue personnel continue to search for Shew in the water, Walker said Tuesday. Although it’s unlikely she survived since she wasn’t found on land, Walker said, the search will continue every day until her body is discovered.
“We hope that we’ll find her soon,” he said.
Bob Spousta, head coach of George Mason University’s crew club, met Shew four years ago when she was training with one of his friends after a 40-year hiatus from the sport.
Spousta said Shew was an accomplished rower, taking up the sport during her undergraduate years at the University of California at Berkeley. He said it is “extremely unusual” for such an experienced rower to go missing.
Last Thursday, Shew reached her goal of rowing 3,000 miles for the year, Spousta said. She planned to celebrate that feat Oct. 27 — on her 65th birthday.
Spousta said Shew “probably had difficulty turning around and she just lost control of her boat.”
“It wasn’t just a surprise, it was a shock,” he said. “She was like a rock. She was very solid and in tremendous physical condition and she had an incredible spirit.”
