Missing 21yo David Breunig Found Drowned in Maine River

PHOTO: The body of missing maritime student David Breunig was pulled from the Penobscot River in Orono Maine over the weekend and formally identified yesterday.

The tall and athletic 21-year-old vanished late in February 2016, reportedly after leaving a house party on foot and crossing elevated train tracks leading downtown.

While no one actually witnessed Breunig "fall" that evening, police immediately began searching the Stillwater, which the railroad trestel spans, as well as the Penobscot where the two rivers converge.

Nothing was found in any of those search efforts, except "objects of interest."

On Friday April 22nd, however, the body of a young Caucasian male closely matching the description of David Breunig was discovered in the waters near Sea Dog brewery and Interstate 395.

The Bangor Fire Department was called to that location to retrieve the victim, who evidently had a wallet and other personal items belonging to the missing Maine Maritime Academy junior.

Although official confirmation could not be made at the time, the family was given notice over the weekend that their young man had likely been found dead.

According to the obituary the Breunigs subsequently published this week, a coroner has told them Breunig  accidentally drowned on February 26th, after slipping from the railway and falling into the Stillwater River.

He “passed away after an accidental drowning” their statement partly read.

A public memorial mass for David Breunig will be held on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. at Saint Hyacinth Church in Westbrook Maine.

EPONYMOUS ROX

Search for David Breunig Aided by Cadaver Dogs

Weeks after Maine maritime student David Breunig (shown in uniform below) disappeared, the hunt for him has narrowed, thanks to a cadaver dog named Quincy.

Yesterday's search for the missing 21-year-old saw body-recovery teams once more probing the Penobscot River, and by sunset they reported locating an "object of interest" in Devereaux Cove south of Sandy Point state park.

That area will be the main focus of today's efforts, a spokesman confirmed last night.

David Breunig vanished from Orono Maine late in February, after leaving a party on foot around midnight.

It is now rumored that he "fell into the river" from a train trestle and drowned, although no evidence has surfaced to support the contention.

The treacherous overpass is near where the Stillwater and Penobscot rivers meet and legally barred to pedestrian traffic.

However, local law enforcement agencies have already conceded it's an extremely uncommon occurrence for anyone to actually die crossing the elevated tracks.

Whether athletic David 'DJ' Breunig was one of the few victims who did plummet to his death from the structure remains under investigation.

Anyone with info about his yet-unsolved missing persons case should contact the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office at (207) 667-7575, or the Orono Police Department at (207) 945-4636.

EPONYMOUS ROX

Divers search river for David Breunig, 21 and missing in Maine

Divers and dogs will resume the search today for David Breunig (below) who went missing in Orono Maine late Friday night.

The 21-year-old attends the Maine Maritime Academy. Authorities began looking for him less than 24 hours after he vanished from a residence in the Crosby Street neighborhood.

Yesterday, they probed the area where the Stillwater River and the Penobscot converge, after officers of the Maine Forest Service performed aerial searches which revealed "two objects of interest" below the water.

Police have provided no other details as to why they suspect Dave Breunig may have drowned there or what, if anything, they discovered in yesterday's recovery efforts.

They did say that Breunig's cellphone has gone dead and there's been no activity on his bank cards or social media accounts either.

MMA also indicated on its Facebook page over the weekend that school officials are aiding local law enforcement agencies in the attempt to locate their missing college student "alive" and "safe."

David Breunig is an athletic Caucasian male about 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, with blue eyes and short brown hair. He is believed to have been wearing blue jeans, a black shirt and brown Timberlands when he disappeared.

Anyone who knows what happened to this young man or his current whereabouts is asked to call Lieutenant Chris Thornton of the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office at (207) 667-7575 without delay. 

The Orono Police Department is also actively involved in this missing persons investigation. Tips to the OPD can be submitted via the Penobscot County Regional Communications Center at (207) 945-4636.

 EPONYMOUS ROX

Missing Maine Man Jim Dyer Found Dead in Harbor

A body found in the harbor yesterday is that of Jim Dyer (below), who went missing in Old Port Maine during New Year's eve celebrations with friends.

The 23-year-old vanished from the historic Portland district while he and his group were preparing to leave the Pearl nightclub in the predawn hours of January 1, 2016.

Search-and-rescue teams routinely scoured the waterfront in the weeks following Jim Dyer's sudden and strange disappearing act, but came up empty-handed each time.

Dive teams equipped with sophisticated sonar also repeatedly searched the harbor waters and likewise found nothing.

Portland police have launched a criminal probe too -- a highly unusual development in one of these cold weather disappearances of young males.

No person-of-interest or suspects have been identified in this missing persons case, though, but the police investigation is said to be still in progress.

In the meantime, an autopsy will be performed this weekend in Augusta Maine to determine how James Dyer died and ended up in the water.

Toxicology results are pending as well.

EPONYMOUS ROX

Search Updates for Adrian Lynch, Jim Dyer and Matt Labounty

Adrian Lynch of Jersey UK, Jim Dyer of Saco Maine and Matt Labounty of Troy NY are still gone without a trace, weeks after they were each reported missing -- search updates below:

STILL MISSING FROM JERSEY ISLAND: Divers, detectives and dogs have been intermittently searching for a 20-year-old Jerseyman who went missing after departing from a work-sponsored Christmas party the first week of December 2015.

Over two long months, though, the massive attempt to rescue Adrian Lynch from whatever mysterious fate befell him that day has gradually morphed into a mission to recover the young man's body.

UK authorities have consistently theorized throughout this unsuccessful endeavor that a "disoriented" Lynch suffered a deadly "misadventure" and "not foul play," although his mum steadfastly believes "Addy is still alive" somewhere.

Her son was last seen by coworkers on December 5th getting into a taxi, then filmed a short time later by surveillance cameras proceeding on foot into the Carrefour Selous area of St. Lawrence, where the driver reportedly had dropped him off.

Residents, as well as other individuals observed in this district walking or hitchhiking at the same hour as Adrian Lynch, were all repeatedly questioned by investigators, but these interviews have yielded nothing of substance.

Thus by mid February -- lacking "any new information" -- police announced they'd be "winding down" their investigation into his disappearance, which to date has only produced the youth's abandoned belt and wallet.

But a local law enforcement official also vowed that his agency “will never close" the Adrian Lynch case. "As long as he remains missing," the spokesman told reporters, "it will be monitored on an ongoing basis.”

STILL MISSING FROM PORTLAND MAINE: Police divers have extensively probed the frigid harbor waters in Old Port at least twice, after a 23-year-old Saco man got separated from his group during New Year's Eve festivities at the Pearl nightclub.

No one apparently saw Jim Dyer vanish into thin air early that January morning as he was standing outside the establishment readying to leave with friends; and no one has seen or heard from him since.

In the meantime, the missing young man's family has gone-for-broke in hopes of rescuing him, losing weeks of work and paychecks in their nonstop, but so far fruitless, effort to find him.

On January 22nd, they got a big financial boost from the management of Duffy’s Tavern & Grille, which hosted a fundraiser for the Dyer family that brought in hundreds of community sympathizers and over $11,000.

Dyer's case resembles that of 30yo Harvard business grad, Nathan Bihlmaier, who, in 2012, also lost contact with friends, after bouncers at Portland Maine's Ri Ra Irish Pub physically escorted him outdoors and then his cell phone died.

It would take searchers awhile to realize that Bihlmaier too was dead -- they eventually found him drowned in Portland harbor -- because Ri Ra's security had lied to police about putting Bihlmaier "in a cab."

Weeks after James Dyer disappeared, however, he is still missing.

STILL MISSING FROM UPSTATE NEW YORK: The trail leading to yet another youth who disappeared during the holidays while walking in a capitol-district city that flanks the Hudson River has grown cold.

As happened to Josh Szostak in neighboring Albany NY in 2007, Matt Labounty likewise lost contact with his friends and relatives in the midst of celebrating Christmas.

Labounty was last sighted on December 25, 2015, leaving a downtown Troy NY address on foot for his own nearby residence.

Days after the 21-year-old vanished without a trace, divers were spotted searching in the river under the Menands Bridge, but found "nothing to suggest" their latest missing man was in the water.

Now, nearly two months after Matthew Labounty somehow fell off the face of the earth on December 25th, his missing persons case remains unsolved and inactive.

Then again, it did take four full months for Joshua Szostak's drowned corpse to finally surface in the Hudson ... in the next county.

MISSING PERSONS ALERT: Jim Dyer, 23, of Maine

ALERT: Missing 23-year-old Jim Dyer (below) left the Pearl nightclub in Old Port Maine, after celebrating New Year's eve there. No one's seen or heard from him since.

According to his missing persons report, the blond-haired man was last sighted at the Pearl around three in the morning on New Year's day.

He is believed to have been wearing a red flannel shirt, khaki pants and winter boots on the morning he went missing.

The Saco Police Department in southern Maine is heading up the investigation into the unexplained disappearance of James Dyer, which, at this time, has not been labeled suspicious.

They urge anyone who knows what happened to the missing young man on New Year's day -- or with knowledge of Jim Dyer's current whereabouts -- to alert them at 207-284-4535.

This case is developing.

Eponymous Rox