Updated Jan. 22 at 2:57 a.m.
Police have confirmed the body found on the shore of Falmouth, Mass., Jan. 12 as missing undergraduate Dana Dourdeville ’15, said Sergeant Kevin Kobza, public information officer for the Fairhaven Police Department.
A civilian search party located the body around 2 p.m. Jan. 12 at Penzance Point in Falmouth, Kobza said. Penzance Point is eight miles southeast of the West Island Town Beach, where Dourdeville was last seen Dec. 31.
Dourdeville’s body showed no visible signs of trauma and is being sent to the state medical examiner for an autopsy, Kobza said. The Fairhaven Police and the Massachusetts Environmental Police are leading the investigation, he said.
Dourdeville, an engineering concentrator, went missing New Year’s Eve after he left his Marion, Mass., home to go duck hunting alone in a kayak. The Coast Guard, local law enforcement agencies, family members and friends had been searching for him by air, land and sea over the past two weeks.
“It’s a tragic accident,” said Michael O’Keefe, Cape and Islands district attorney. He added that Dourdeville’s family helped police identify the body, and there is no suspicion or evidence of foul play.
A small burial service for Dourdeville took place Sunday for family members only, said his brother Jared. A ceremony open to the public will be held Feb. 9 at Tabor Academy in Marion, followed by a reception at Sippican Elementary School, wrote his mother Karen in an email to The Herald.
“We were deeply saddened to learn from Fairhaven police reports that Dana’s body was found today,” wrote Marisa Quinn, vice president for public affairs and University relations, in an email to The Herald Jan. 12. “University officials have been following this situation closely, and members of the Brown community have participated in the search. Dana’s family is in our thoughts.”
A Facebook post Jan. 12 first identified the body as Dourdeville’s before police provided confirmation.
“Dana has been found and has passed,” Bill Tilden, athletic director of Old Rochester Regional High School and Dourdeville’s former track coach, wrote Jan. 12 around 4 p.m. on the Search for Dana Facebook page. “Please keep him and the family in your prayers and we promise to update everyone soon.”
A spokesperson for the Falmouth Police Department declined to comment on the incident.
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