Man vanished while fishing with friends, New Hampshire cops say. Body found month later
A man vanished underwater while on a fishing trip with his friends in April and his body was found nearly one month later in New Hampshire, according to police.
Officials determined that he drowned after entering the water off Nine Island on April 6 when the group’s boat started drifting farther away from land, state police said. The man had tried retrieving the boat, went underwater and wasn’t seen again.
The missing fisherman was identified as Jonathan Zukowski, 31, of Woodstock, and his body was found May 3 along the Connecticut River near the island where he was fishing, according to a news release from police.
On April 6, Zukowski’s friends had tossed him a life jacket just before he went underwater, state police said. Afterward, police were called about two people who were stranded on the island and another who disappeared into the water.
A search for Zukowski ensued and a New Hampshire Fish and Game diving team “dove for three days without success,” a May 4 news release from the agency said. However, high waters and “poor visibility” stopped the diving search.
Then, agency conservation officers began patrolling a 5 mile region of the Connecticut River for four days out of each week since Zukowski’s disappearance, according to the state Fish and Game department.
The river is known to be the largest in the New England region and is 255 miles long.
Two officers searching the river with an airboat discovered Zukowski “approximately 2.5 miles downriver of where he was last seen” on May 3, the news release said. The state medical examiner’s office ruled his death as an accidental drowning.
Woodstock, where Zukowski is from, is roughly 60 miles north of Concord.
This story was originally published May 4, 2022 at 11:38 AM with the headline "Man vanished while fishing with friends, New Hampshire cops say. Body found month later."
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