Rappel Team Recovers Payne's Body

Following a story that we broke for you on NewsChannel 9 at 5:30, authorities are working to recover a body in Cloudland Canyon State Park and they believe it is Judy Payne.

The search for Payne started three days ago. Rescue teams started in the parts of the park that are the most accessible to people, but this afternoon they told us they believe they found Payne in one of the most isolated parts of the park.

Over the last three days rescue workers have combed almost every inch of Cloudland Canyon State Park. A mix of helicopters, dogs, and ground search teams have been looking for 45 year old Judy Payne. The search started late Monday night after a park ranger found Payne's car in this parking lot. But around four this afternoon rescuers found a body nearly seven miles from that parking lot.

"At this time we believe it's Ms. Payne but proper identification through the G.B.I. will be the cause of that," Dade County Sheriff Patrick Cannon says.

Dade County Sheriff Patrick Cannon says investigators believe Payne died from falling nearly two to three hundred feet.

"At this point does it look like an accident? Foul play involved?" we ask. "We don't suspect foul play so at this point an accident," Cannon says.

But at this point they're not telling us if they know why Payne came to the park in the first place. Her husband says she left their house early Monday morning but she never made it to work at the Walter A Woods Supply Company.

A rappel team will now have to work their way down to help recover the body.

"Then they'll retrieve the body with rescue techniques, bringing her up in a basket and at that point they'll take the body to the G.B.I. crime lab," Cannon says.