The Blue Ridge Parkway, looking north from the Linn Cove Viaduct, near Grandfather Mountain in northwestern, N.C on June 23, 2010. A North Carolina conservation group has earned a grant that will help protect land and water across the state. The one-year, $50,000 grant from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation will help the Conservation Trust for North Carolina as well as local land trusts. It will help the trusts build public awareness of the importance of conservation and provide for regional initiatives. CTNC is also working to maintain the pace of conservation along the Blue Ridge Parkway, which celebrates its 75th anniversary in September. (AP Photo/News & Observer, Shawn Rocco) (AP Photo/News & Observer, Shawn Rocco, File)
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The National Park Service has released a description of a man thought to have bound a woman to a tree along the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Local media outlets report a woman was found Thursday near the popular Craggy Gardens area about 40 miles northeast of Asheville.
A woman who called 911 identified herself as a caregiver for the 64-year-old woman found bound. The caller said she was receiving texts from the woman who authorities found and took to a hospital.
Park officials think it was an isolated incident and visitor facilities in the area remain open.
A Park Service release describes the suspect as a white man about 50, with graying hair and a partial beard. He was wearing a gray T-shirt, baggy blue pants and dark tennis shoes.
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