Body Found On Shelter Island Identified As Missing Kayaker: Police

EAST END, NY — The body of a man found on Shelter Island recently has been identified as a kayaker who went missing from Sag Harbor last month, police said.

The Suffolk County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed his identitiy as Dario Donato Cholula-Rojas, 31, of Queens, Shelter Island Police said.

Cholula-Rojas never returned after heading out to fish on Sag Harbor Bay on Oct. 19, police said.

He was reported missing out of North Haven, and was staying at a residence along Ferry Road, Southampton Town Police said. Cholula-Rojas entered into Sag Harbor Bay just south of Tyndal Point in a red kayak around 9 p.m. that Wednesday to go fishing, police said.

The following day, it was discovered that Dario had never returned, police said. The red kayak he used was found about 1,000 feet south of the residence he'd launched from, and was partially overturned in the water with a fishing pole inside, police said.

On Nov. 8 at 4:12 p.m., Shelter Island Police said they were dispatched after a report of a body on the beach on the south side of Mashomack Preserve in the Smith Cove waterway of Shelter Island Sound.

The man was believed to have drowned, police said. Southampton Town Police detectives were notified due to a possible connection with the missing kayaker investigation.

The Suffolk County Medical Examiner's Office responded and removed the body for investigation, identification, and cause of death, police said.