Body Of Young Man Lost In Long Island Sound Found Friday

PLUM ISLAND, NY — After almost two weeks of agonizing days and nights, it was a tragic discovery Friday as the body of young man lost on the Long Island Sound was found.

According to Lt. Alaina Fagan, public affairs officer for Coast Guard sector Long Island Sound, a call came in at 12:19 p.m. Friday from a good Samaritan who located a body, positively identified as Spencer Mugford, 21, of Groton, CT about two-and-a-half miles southeast of Avery Point, north of Dumpling Island and not far from Plum Island.

He and Sofia McKenna, 20, have been missing since Memorial Day weekend.

USCG Station New London sent a small boat to transport Mugford's body back, Fagan said.

The search for the pair was suspended two weeks ago after a sailboat washed up on Truman Beach in East Marion and is now considered to be in the recovery phase; the USCG stands ready to assist any local agency in that effort, Fagan said.

Friends and family have been rallying fiercely to help bring the two missing young people home safely.

A GoFundMe, "Bring Sofia & Spencer Home" was created to help.

Michelle McKenna, Sofia's devastated mom, "has experienced the most traumatic thing I could ever imagine while being a parent," the page said.

On May 27, at 2 a.m., McKenna's daughter Sofia went missing, along with her friend Spencer, the page said. The GoFundMe was created "in support of the efforts in bringing home Sofia and Spencer safely," the page said.

The Coast Guard suspended its intense search for a young man and woman in the Long Island Sound after the 14-foot white and blue sailboat with no mast was found on Truman Beach in East Marion — and officials say the pair was likely to have been on that sailboat and not a kayak, as initially believed.

According to The Day, the pair was last on a boat belonging to the University of Connecticut - Avery Point. Officials originally thought they had gone missing on a paddleboard, the post said.

Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley told Patch, that the blue-and-white sailboat, which was found without a mast on Truman Beach in East Marion, was "undamaged."

When asked if anyone had walked up from Truman Beach, he responded, "Not that we are aware of."

"Suspending a search for missing or overdue boaters is never an easy decision to make after an extensive search," said Cmdr. Andrew Ely, chief of response, Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound. "We search for every person as if we are searching for one of our own. We extend our deepest condolences."

McKenna said on social media that her daughter took a Snapchat of Spencer at 2 a.m. on a paddleboard; from 2:05 a.m. until 2:09 a.m., she said, she received seven missed phone calls from Spencer's cell phone. But she was asleep and did not get the calls.
She added that Spencer and her daughter were just friends.

McKenna, desperate to find her beautiful daughter, has implored the public and those with vessels for help to continue searching the water.

Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound command center said it received notification at approximately 6:30 p.m., Sunday from the City of Groton Police Department that Mugford and McKenna were missing.

When Mugford failed to make an event Sunday morning, his parents notified the City of Groton Police Department to report him missing. Mugford and McKenna's departure point was unknown and there was no response from their cell phones.

The Coast Guard, along with state and local agencies searched for a total of 71 hours, and saturated a 2025 square-mile area to locate the two missing people in the water, the agency said.

The Coast Guard said it suspended its search for Mugford and McKenna pending the development of new information.

The two are believed to have boarded the vessel at the University of Connecticut's Avery Point campus in Groton, according to a report in The Day. McKenna's car was found on the campus.

With no word yet of her beloved daughter, McKenna sent a heartbroken message on social media Friday to Spencer: "May your soul rest in peace. My most heartfelt sympathy to his family and friends. Spence, thank you for being such a good friend to Sofia."

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