Hearts ‘broken’ over NL student’s disappearance
Teen was last seen Thursday at a Westerly beach
— Superintendent Cynthia Ritchie on Saturday said the school community’s “hearts continue to be broken” after learning a swimmer missing since Thursday night was a New London student.
In an email shared with staff and set to be forwarded to families, Ritchie said the school system’s “thoughts and prayers are with the family, the search team and with the entire community during this extremely unsettling time.”
Recovery efforts to find the body of the New London boy were set to continue on Saturday, more than a day after the 15-year-old went missing in Rhode Island waters.
The victim, who has not yet been identified by police, was last seen Thursday night at Dunes Park Beach, 665 Atlantic Ave., Westerly. A multi-agency search conducted by police, fire and U.S. Coast Guard units continued through late Friday afternoon before being suspended.
A scaled-back search was set to continue through the weekend.
Neither Westerly police Chief Paul Gingerella — who said on Friday that search efforts were focused on recovery rather than rescue — nor Coast Guard officials from the Point Judith station could immediately be reached for comment.
New London Mayor Michael Passero and state Rep. Anthony Nolan, D-New London, on Saturday afternoon said they had not been told if the boy’s body had been found. Nolan said he instructed his staff to reach out to the boy’s family to offer help and condolences.
On Saturday morning, ATV tire tracks left by search vehicles crisscrossed sections of the private Dunes Park Beach not far from where surfers, paddle-boarders and swimmers splashed in the whitecapped surf.
Mark Kreuter, a beach security guard for the past five years, said he watched a cadre of “frogmen, ATVs and police,” along with Coast Guard helicopters and vessels, flood the waters where the boy was last seen in the initial hours of the search.
He said the area near the rocky jetty outcrop where the boy was reportedly swept down is frequently marked by strong currents and undertows. New London Board of Education President Elaine Maynard-Adams said Ritchie on Friday convened the school system’s crisis intervention team in anticipation of it being needed.
“When more information about the incident becomes available, we’ll be able to begin offering counseling services to students, staff and others,” Maynard-Adams said.
In her email, Ritchie said administrators, counselors and members of the crisis teams will be available to meet with students and staff for counseling starting at 8 a.m. Monday at the science and technology building, 490 Jefferson Ave.