ROCKLAND – After several hours of searching for a missing person in Rockland, Friday, Nov. 10, 2023, the body of Andrue Leach, 30, of Rockland, was found in the water near the Coast Guard base at the end of Tillson Avenue.

Around 1 p.m., Rockland Police was notified of the sighting, at which point the collaborative efforts of Marine Patrol, Coast Guard, and Rockland Fire and EMS were set in motion to pull Leach back onto solid ground.

Earlier in the day, at approximately 10 a.m., Rockland Police posted a missing person’s announcement to their Facebook page regarding the disappearance of Andrue Leach, 30, of Rockland. At the time of the posting, Rockland Police were attempting to locate and check Leach’s wellbeing. The post said that he was last known to be downtown, in the area of Tillson Ave around 2:30 a.m.

Shortly after the posting, police began searching in the area of Lermond’s Cove and the Pollution Control facility. At the request of the police, their off-duty K-9 team was brought in, along with personnel from the fire department, which included both on-duty and call shift personnel. The Warden’s Service and Marine Patrol were made aware of the situation and put on standby.

After sweeping the area for approximately an hour, several Rockland FD units were called away for an odor investigation on Limerock Street. And during this time, police reviewed the information they’d accumulated and began looking through a bigger scope.

It would be Marine Patrol that ultimately found a body, having taken on a section of the search area as well as flying a biplane overhead. At that point, Police and Fire/EMS were allowed entry within the parking area behind the Coast Guard Station’s tall chain-link fence to complete the recovery.

Rockland PD updated its Facebook page with the following statement:

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com