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Dutchess County resident Robert Kerker, age 67, of Rhinebeck, who had been missing since Sunday, July 9, was located about 2:30 p.m. Friday, July 28, by search crews along the Stony Brook in Stockbridge, Vermont, about 1.5 miles downstream from where the trail crossed the brook.
According to Vermont State Police, search crews had focused their efforts Friday on the brook after a witness reported seeing Kerker, an experienced hiker, at the Stony Brook Shelter on the Appalachian Trail the night of July 9.
The witness said severe rain and flooding that struck Vermont starting Monday, July 10 had elevated water levels on the Stony Brook and made the trail's crossing of the stream dangerous. Kerker is not known to have been seen again following that encounter, Vermont State Police said.
The Vermont State Police Search and Rescue Team, along with numerous first responders participated in the effort Friday afternoon to recover Kerker's remains, police said.
The body was brought to the Chief Medical Examiner's Office in Burlington, Vermont, who found the cause of death was a probable drowning, and the manner of death an accident that occurred when Kerker was caught in the current of a brook while hiking the Appalachian Trail during a storm-related flooding event.
Kerker began his trek on Thursday, June 1 in Bear Mountain.
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