Crew Team Finds Unidentified Body in Charles River

Massachusetts State Police are continuing their investigation into Saturday morning's discovery of a dead male body in the Charles River near the shores of MIT.

Police would not identify the body, which witnesses identified as a man's, nor say how it ended up in the river.

Janet M. DePasquale, a spokesperson for the Suffolk County Criminal Prevention and Control Division, said the body had been retrieved from the water by police dive teams and that the case was currently under the jurisdiction of the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.

"That's all the information I have at this time," DePasquale said.

The police discovered the body shortly before the Radcliffe varsity crew team held its early morning practice.

Around 9 a.m. on Saturday, the team rowed under the overpass of the Boston University (BU) bridge. Kate C. McCarthy '99, the team's coxswain, noticed a state police boat cruising near the area of the bridge and was afraid the crew team would run into the motor boat.

However, the motor boat soon moved out of the way.

"After we'd gone [under], we all noticed it at once," she said. "As soon as we passed it, some of the rowers started to scream at me to look off the port side."

The man's "bobbing" head passed just under the oar of McCarthy's teammate Shana E. McCormack '99, who was in the boat's seventh position, McCarthy said.

McCormack said the body disconcerted the team and caused them to begin rowing out of synch.

"The only thing we [usually] come into is geese," McCormack said.

However, the team members attempted to maintain their focus, they said.

Radcliffe crew assistant coach "Audrey Borland asked us if we were O.K., and we said yes," McCormack said. "It was definitely disturbing...but we're out there to row."