Updated: Woman found dead in Afton

AFTON – A retired elementary school teacher’s aide has been found dead, the victim of an apparent homicide, Nelson County Sheriff David Brooks said this morning.

And the driver behind the wheel of her dark-green 1998 Chevrolet Malibu may have a 15-hour head start.

Brooks identified the victim as Opal Page, 73, of the 7200 block of Rockfish Valley Highway. Authorities are investigating the death as a homicide because of forced entry into her home and the missing car, Brooks said.

Nelson County Capt. Ron Robertson said authorities got a call from a neighbor last evening after Page missed a lunch date. Authorities arrived to find her in a pool of blood.

“I took one look,“ Robertson said, and “told my guys to get out, this is beyond us.“

The missing car, with license plate No. YZR1900, was last seen traveling northbound on Va. 151 at 6 a.m. yesterday, Robertson said. One of two back doors to the home had been broken in, he said.

Page had been a longtime teacher’s aide at Rockfish River Elementary School, where she continued to volunteer after retiring five years ago, said Principal Nita Hughes.

“She was just one of the most kind, gentle caring people you’d ever meet,“ Hughes said.

Page’s modest white, one-story house stands across from another home along an isolated stretch of highway. A large Virginia State Police crime scene investigation truck is parked outside and a strip of crime scene tape blocks entry into the home.

Virginia State Police forensics officers are assisting the sheriff’s department in the investigation. Page’s body has been sent to a state medical examiner’s office in Richmond for an autopsy.