Girl, 2, and her mother are

reunited; no charges filed

A 2-year-old girl who was found wandering outside a Northwest Roanoke apartment complex Friday morning was safely returned to her mother, police said.

Roanoke police Lt. Chris Perkins said someone found the girl, whom police did not name, about 10 a.m. outside Salem View Apartments on Panorama Avenue.

The girl was placed in the custody of the police department's juvenile crime squad detectives and later picked up by Child Protective Services. Police released a photo of the girl to the media with hope that someone would recognize her.

Perkins said the girl's family was located about 12:30 p.m., soon after a Roanoke television station aired footage of her.

Perkins said police found no negligence in the case and no one was charged. The girl and her mother were reunited about 1 p.m.

"The mother is extremely happy," Perkins said.

Police did not say how the girl went missing or who was caring for her at the time.

"It was not the mother's fault," Perkins said. "She's a good mother."

-Shawna Morrison

ROANOKE

Apartment fire is ruled

accidental, official says

A fire that broke out Thursday night at a Southwest Roanoke apartment house has been ruled accidental, a fire official said.

A neighbor spotted the fire in the 1200 block of Salem Avenue just after 7 p.m. and called 911. Roanoke Fire-EMS crews arrived to find flames and smoke coming out of windows on the first floor.

The fire started in a first-floor bedroom and was contained to that apartment, though the second-floor apartment sustained some damage. Roanoke Fire-EMS spokeswoman Jennifer Faulkner said the fire was accidental but did not say exactly how it started.

Faulkner said no one was injured in the fire, which caused about $60,000 in damage.

-Shawna Morrison

ROANOKE COUNTY

Free gun locks available

to anyone, sheriff says

Roanoke County Sheriff Gerald Holt is offering free gun locks to anyone who needs them.

"Please save a child's life and lock your guns," Holt said Friday in a news release.

Two Western Virginia children have been killed by accidental gunfire this month.

Four-year-old Asadi Wiley of Roanoke found a gun in his father's car Sept. 3, Roanoke police have said. Asadi picked up the gun, which went off, shooting him in the head.

Two-year-old Zeth Pickering of Alleghany Springs was accidentally shot by his 9-year-old brother on Monday. The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office has said Dallas Pickering was playing with a loaded shotgun when it went off, striking his brother in the back.

To receive a gun lock from the Roanoke County Sheriff's Office, call 387-6141.

-Shawna Morrison

FREDERICKSBURG

State police captain is

missing after lake outing

FREDERICKSBURG - Dive teams searched Lake Anna Thursday night for the body of a veteran Virginia State Police captain who went overboard while boating with his uncle, authorities said.

Capt. Steve Adams, who has been with the force more than 30 years, fell into the lake while tracking back to pick up his uncle, who was water-skiing behind the boat and had fallen off, police said.

Adams' uncle was able to make it out of water, but Adams did not resurface.

Divers from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, the Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office and state police had planned to continue searching for Adams' body through the night.

Police were also using rescue boats equipped with underwater radar.

Police said Adams was off-duty at the time of the incident.

-Associated Press