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The unidentified man was recovered by a marine unit in the river in Upper Merion Township at 5:50 p.m. Thursday, May 2, Upper Merion Police Capt. Jeremy Johnson said. The body was turned over to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office.
The last time the man had been heard from was Monday, April 29, after sharing a selfie of himself to his social media account, while traveling upstream after launching his kayak from the Upper Merion Township boathouse, police said. At about 2 p.m., a resident called police saying he'd heard a man calling for help near the woods and the river, at about 1.1 miles up the river from the boathouse.
Upper Merion police responded to the heavily-wooded area but could not hear or find anyone in need of help. The police department's crew team launched their boats at around 4 p.m. Nothing out of the ordinary was reported by any of the crew members at that time, Johnson said.
The next day, Upper Merion police got a call from the West Norriton police saying that a 70-year-old man hadn't returned from a fishing trip, according to Johnson. His Toyota RAV4 was found at the boathouse, and rescue teams were immediately deployed and began searching the banks.
Multiple boats and drones covered areas above and below the dam. The man's kayak was found around 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 30 near the base of the damn near the middle of the river. Some of his personal items were recovered snagged in a downed tree about 1,000 feet upstream from the boathouse, police said.
Emergency services continued to look for the missing boater until 8 p.m. Tuesday night. He was found deceased on Thursday.
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