Virginia State Police have asked the university to drain the Duck Pond to search for evidence related to the April 16 shootings on campus said Virginia State Police public relations manager, Corinne Geller. The state police received a tip from an eyewitness, who said that they saw someone who matched the description of Cho Seung-Hui around the Duck Pond between the shootings in West Ambler-Johnston Hall and Norris Hall.
The state police did a search around the Duck Pond in the weeks after the shootings, but the water was murky, making the search futile, Geller said. With the water drained, the police are able to examine more thoroughly while performing a grid search on the area.
Geller would not comment on what the police are hoping to find.
Some have speculated that they are searching for a missing hard drive from Cho’s computer, as reported in The Washington Post. However, the police will not comment on that, since the information released to The Washington Post was an unauthorized release.
“This is really almost a process of elimination,” Geller said, noting that they have received hundreds of tips on the investigation.
The search continues throughout most of the day, and it is up to the divers and their supervisors as to when to end for the night, said Sgt. Robert Carpentieri, the regional public information officer.
“It depends how tired they are,” he said.
The divers have now put in two days of work, but work is slow, as divers are waist-deep in mud.
“At this point, we have found nothing,” Geller said.
The university was not planning on draining the Duck Pond, but does in fact benefit from it.
The state police approached the university more than a couple weeks ago, said Mark Owczarski, director of news and information with university relations. Given the request from the state police, the university agreed and began draining the pond on Monday.
“There is a need for maintenance work on the Duck Pond,” Owczarski said. He mentioned that the dam and retaining walls need to be inspected and some trees need to be removed or pruned.
Finally, the sediment needs to be drudged to allow for proper storm water management.
The Duck Pond was last drained 18 years ago, after being built in 1937. On one side, Stroubles Creek runs into the pond from underneath the Drillfield. A dam blocks the creek on the other side, creating the pond.
There are a number of different animals that call the Duck Pond home, including fish and ducks. The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries inspected the Duck Pond prior to draining to assess what needs to be done to conserve the wildlife. Julia Vixon from the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, said that there were mostly bluegills in the water.
“We didn’t want the water to go down and leave them stranded,” she said.
The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has worked with Tech before when the university last drained the pond.
Gene Yagow, a research scientist in biological and systems engineering, has been developing an implementation plan for Stroubles, working with the upper Stroubles Creek watershed. He said that the impact on Stroubles of draining the pond should be minor.
The breach was drained gradually, and there does not appear to be an excessive amount of sedimentation downstream, Yagow said.
Ponds like the Duck Pond must be drained occasionally, and a period of 18 years is not unusual, Yugow said. The Duck Pond was created to help keep levels of sediment low in the creek flowing out of the pond. However, this sediment builds up over time and must be dredged to allow for adequate storm water management.
The impact on the biological life downstream remains to be seen, Yagow said.
The pond may be drained for quite some time, as the university is not sure how long the process will take. Once the state police are finished with their search of the pond, the university will then begin their maintenance work.
The university is hoping to have the work done before the fall semester, but any rainfall will slow the process down.
