UPDATED: Apparent suicide victim recovered from icy waters in West Yarmouth… [Video]
Top photo: Police and rescue wait for state medical examiner…
WEST YARMOUTH – Divers recovered the body of an adult male from the icy waters off Colonial Acres Beach at the end of Standish Way.
Police, firefighters, divers, and the Coast Guard arrived between the hours of 3am and 5am, searching for someone in the water.
According to sources, a Coast Guard helicopter spotted the body offshore in the water. Divers then entered the water and recovered the adult male who was already deceased.
UPDATED YPD press statement:
Yarmouth and Massachusetts State Police Investigate Apparent Suicide
On Thursday March 5, 2015 at approximately 2:52AM Yarmouth Police Department Patrol Officers Matthew Sheehan and John Lanata Jr. were dispatched to Colonial Acres Beach located at the southern end of Standish Way in West Yarmouth for a 31-year-old missing person.
Officer Lanata arrived at the scene and located a male and female in the parking lot of Colonial Acres Beach. The female was extremely upset and reported that her husband was despondent and had left their home and walked down to the beach. When her husband did not return, she went out looking for him and found the clothes he was wearing when he originally went out on the boardwalk leading to the beach. She did a quick search of the beach and then called the police.
Patrol Officer Lanata and Sheehan walked out on to the boardwalk and located additional personal items as well as fresh footprints in the snow which led to the frozen iced-in section of Lewis Bay. The Yarmouth Fire Department was notified and Yarmouth Police Department 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. The United States Coast Guard sent a helicopter to aid in the search. The Coast Guard helicopter arrived on scene and located the victim. Members of the Cape Cod Regional Dive Team arrived on scene and were able to recover the body.
As with all untimely deaths in Massachusetts, the Massachusetts State Police Detectives were called to the scene as well as members of the Massachusetts State Police Crime Scene Unit and are assisting the Yarmouth Police Department with this apparent suicide follow up investigation.
Due to the sensitivity of the matter, we will not be releasing the name of the victim at this time. All of the men and women of the Yarmouth Police Department offer our thoughts and condolences to his grieving family and friends.
There is nothing shameful about suicide or the feelings behind it. There may be pain, hopelessness, and feelings of isolation; but there never needs to be shame. And with help, there can be hope. If you are in pain and would like someone to talk to, please call the 24 hour crisis lines of The Samaritans of Cape Cod and the Islands at 508-548-8900 or 800-893-9900 or visit their web site at http://capesamaritans.org/
The following HN video briefly documents today’s scene, with the victim secured inside of an ambulance as investigators wait for the state medical examiner… [Press play… Select HD from settings and enlarge player for best quality…]
In other news:
HN NOTE: This is the 6th untimely death in the past 6 days being investigated by state police assigned to Cape Cod. Five of those deaths appear to have been overdoses. There are NO indications that today’s tragedy was drug related, but investigators do know that today’s death appears to have been a suicide.
Investigators have been extremely busy lately looking into these tragedies, to say the least…
Overdoses are ongoing everyday, but it’s unusual to have 5 fatal overdoses in just 5 days…
HN has been speaking with other news sources and most reporters in the area believe there is a need for more coverage on the tragedies related to the ongoing heroin epidemic.
The overdose issue has not improved and the epidemic touches everyone to some degree. For example, there have been reports of overdoses in store bathrooms and dressing rooms on a regular, if not daily basis…
There has even been a report of a 5-year-old girl who tried to pick up a discarded hypodermic needle from a public bench inside of a large local indoor shopping destination. HN is investigating and will be speaking with a source who wants to speak about the blatant drug usage near her workplace inside of the aforementioned Hyannis area indoor shopping destination. (HN will provide more specific details and name the actual location as the investigation unfolds…)
Again, there is NO indication that today’s apparent suicide is related in any way to the ongoing heroin overdose epidemic. But it’s important to note the Greater Hyannis Area has seen more than it’s share of suicides, along with fatal drug overdoses.
Some sources report our suicide rate as being much higher that the rest of the state. If so, there are questions that need to asked and addressed by all members of the media.
Perhaps the most important question being, “Why are all these untimely deaths happening here?”
3/5/2015
Robert Bastille,
