An autopsy report by the New Hampshire Medical Examiner's office has positively identified a recently recovered body as missing kayaker Alan Benjamin of Rochester, Vt, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department said in a press release Friday. His body was recovered Thursday from the Connecticut River near Lyme, N.H. Officials ruled that Benjamin drowned.
State Fish and Game conservation officers and other state police and fire department officials have been searching the river for Benjamin since he went missing March 25, according to the press release.
Authorities responded to a call at 5 p.m. Thursday, reporting that a body had been found in the Connecticut River along River Road in Lyme, N.H., Jane Vachon, a representative of the Fish and Game Department, said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
Officials from the state Fish and Game Department and the Lyme and Orford police departments then arrived to retrieve Benjamin's body from the water, according to Vachon.
State rescue agencies found Benjamin's overturned kayak, life vest, backpack and baseball cap floating on the Connecticut River near Hanover on March 25. The identification materials in his kayak matched a vehicle found parked at a boat launch in North Thetford, Vt., approximately 14 miles upstream.
Officials suspected that Benjamin drowned when he did not return from the kayaking trip.As of March 26, officials did not know whether Benjamin was wearing a life jacket when he went missing, according to WCAX.
