The body of 18-year-old Mark Everett Coates III was recovered from the Susquehanna River, PEOPLE reports. Dive teams from the Maryland Natural Resources Police, Maryland State Police, and Baltimore County Police Department located the teen near Garrett Island during the afternoon.
This recovery brings a conclusion to a week-long search that started after authorities found a 10-foot aluminum jon boat capsized near the same island on November 5. The search efforts began in earnest that morning after officials received the initial report regarding the empty vessel.
Coates was last seen operating the boat near the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge at around 5:00 PM on Wednesday, November 4. He was wearing a chartreuse long-sleeved T-shirt and blue jeans at the time.
The search team used an underwater drone
Finding the teen proved difficult due to environmental factors. On November 5, the Susquehanna Hose Company noted that local weather conditions created significant hurdles for securing aviation resources to aid in the search. The United States Coast Guard eventually worked to develop a plan for additional support as various agencies and volunteers joined the operation.
The breakthrough came when volunteer search personnel with the Christian Aid Ministries Pennsylvania Search and Rescue team used an underwater drone to identify a target of interest offshore of Garrett Island. This technology proved vital in helping divers locate the body…