Mark Everett Coates III, 18, of Havre de Grace, was found dead on Thursday afternoon, Nov. 12, near Garrett Island, where his overturned boat was discovered a week earlier.
According to Maryland Natural Resources Police, volunteers with Christian Aid Ministries Pennsylvania Search & Rescue spotted a target of interest beneath the water offshore of Garrett Island using an underwater drone.
Around noon, divers from Maryland Natural Resources Police, Maryland State Police, and Baltimore County Police were dispatched to the area between the Tydings Memorial Bridge (I-95) and Hatem Memorial Bridge (US 40).
The divers recovered a body that was positively identified as Coates, bringing the search to an end.
Coates was last known to be operating his 10-foot aluminum jon boat near the Hatem Bridge on the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 4.
His boat was found capsized and unmanned near Garrett Island the following day, setting off a massive search involving law enforcement agencies, firefighters, dive teams, and volunteers from across the region.
Among those who answered the call was the United Cajun Navy, which mobilized 84 volunteers and 34 vessels over 48 hours to help find the missing teenager.
The organization issued a tribute following the recovery, referring to Coates by the nickname his family used, "Markie."
"This is not the outcome any of us prayed for, but we hope bringing Markie home gives his family some measure of peace in the difficult days ahead," the organization said.
The United Cajun Navy thanked the Pennsylvania volunteers who located Coates, the divers who recovered him, and the many people who spent days searching the river and its shoreline.
"To Markie's family: Thank you for trusting us and allowing us to stand beside you during one of the most difficult moments imaginable," the organization wrote. "Your love, strength, and determination touched every one of us."
The organization ended its tribute with a message that captured why so many strangers had joined the search.
"We came to Maryland for Markie. We leave carrying his memory with us."
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