Search And Rescue Team Finds Body Of Missing Teen

SUFFERN, NY — Suffern Police Chief Clarke Osborn was sorry to tell the community Sunday that a local teen for whom police had been searching since Dec. 20 was found dead under the New York State Thruway bridge at the source of the Mahwah River. The investigation had expanded to include special search and rescue teams from as far away as the Adirondacks.

"My friends, unfortunately we have some sad news to report in that we located our missing 18 yr. old Wilson Atz who was just found deceased in the water at the foot of Lake Antrim off of Wayne Ave.," Chief Clarke Osborn wrote on Facebook. "We thank the Commsar Search & Rescue crews, over 80 volunteers today, who came out with us along with our friends from the NY State Police and searched the area and located the body."

The Suffern police received early help from the New York State Police for an extensive search through the difficult terrain around Route 202 with searches on foot and in the air with helicopters, K-9 searches and scuba divers. The NYSP recommended a volunteer search and rescue group called Commsar ( Community Search & Rescue), members of which came and searched a broad area last week and called in more help this past weekend.

"A team from Catskill Mountain Search and Rescue consisting of Bill Winterbottom, Brad Sayer and Annmarie Spiciarich located what appeared to be a body in the water under the NY State Thruway bridge where Lake Antrim turns into the Mahwah River. This team then entered the water and it was confirmed that a deceased body was there," Osborn said. "The body was removed from the water and checked by the NY State Police and it was confirmed that the deceased was our missing person Wilson Atz. The Rockland Medical Examiner’s Office arrived at that time and took the body to the county morgue for investigation and a future autopsy which is standard protocol for a situation such as this."

Osborn thanked them all:

• Adirondack Mountain Rescue
• Amigo SAR Team
• Berkley Township Dive Team
• Catskill Mountain SAR Team
• Central Adirondacks SAR Team
• Central Jersey K9 Search and Rescue
• CommSAR - Community Search and Rescue
• Disaster and Wilderness Ground Search
• Garden State Underwater Recovery Unit
• Hudson-Mohawk Search and Rescue Team
• Long Island Search and Rescue
• Lower Adirondack Search and Rescue
• Massasauga Search and Rescue Team
• National Ski Patrol - Search and Rescue Affiliate Team
• New Jersey Search and Rescue
• Northeast Mobile Search and Rescue Team
• Sams Point Search and Rescue
• Search and Rescue Teams of Warren County
• Search Team 5-1
• Search, Rescue, Response, and Recovery of NJ
• Specialty K9 Search and Recovery
• NY Federation of SAR teams
• SAR council of New Jersey

SEE ALSO: Police Looking For Missing Suffern 18-Year-Old