Police ID Man Found Dead In Great South Bay

The body of a 57-year-old man was found in the Great South Bay near an empty clamming boat Sunday afternoon, police said.

According to Suffolk Police, a boater saw a man floating in the water, about a mile south of Tanner Park in Copiague, and notified police shortly after 3 p.m. A Copiague Fire Department boat responded and recovered the man, later identified as Joseph Unger.

Police found an empty 17-foot clamming boat nearby.

Unger, of Amityville, was pronounced dead by a physician assistant from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner, police said.

An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death. The investigation is continuing and detectives are asking anyone with additional information to call the Homicide Squad at 631-852-6392.

It's the third body found in the bay in less than three months.

On April 30, a ferry crew found the body of 43-year-old Jose Perez Ramirez, of Patchogue, in the bay off Sayville. On May 9, the body of a homeless man, Jose Espino-Perez, was discovered off the coast of Bay Shore. Police have said both of those deaths appear "non-criminal" in nature.