WEST YARMOUTH – Yarmouth firefighters and the Coast Guard spent a better part of the overnight hours searching for a person off Colonial Acres Beach in West Yarmouth.
The man’s body was found this morning, the victim of an apparent suicide, according to Yarmouth Police.
The search began at 2:52 a.m. at the beach located at the end of Standish Way with a report of a missing despondent man who had been walking on the beach.
Yarmouth Police Officers Matthew Sheehan and John Lanata Jr. arrived at the beach to find a man and a woman in the beach parking lot.
Police said the woman was extremely upset and reported that her husband was despondent and had left their home and walked down to the beach. When he did not return, she went out looking for him and found the clothes he was wearing when he left the house on the boardwalk leading to the beach. She did a quick search of the beach and then called police.
Sheehan and Lanata walked out on to the boardwalk and found additional personal items as well as fresh footprints in the snow leading to the frozen iced-in section of Lewis Bay. The Yarmouth Fire Department was notified and Yarmouth Police Patrol Sergeant Andrew O’Malley and Detective Scott Lundegren as well as personnel from several other agencies responded to the scene.
Members of the Yarmouth Fire Department arrived and sent rescuers into the water in an attempt to locate the missing man. Visibility was poor and conditions extremely hazardous, according to police.
The United States Coast Guard sent a helicopter to aid in the search. The helicopter located the victim. Members of the Cape Cod Regional Dive Team arrived on scene and were able to recover the body.
As in all untimely deaths in Massachusetts, State Police Detectives from the District Attorney’s Office were called in to assist in the investigation. Because the case involves an apparent suicide, police are not releasing the name of the victim.
