Body of Missing Man Recovered

NARRAGANSETT, RI—The body of a man who went missing in the waters off Narragansett’s rocky shore on Friday was recovered on Saturday morning, according to police.

Narragansett Police Acting Police Chief Sean Corrigan said in a news release that police got a report at around 9:30 a.m. that a body had washed up on the beach in Jerusalem.

Police were able to preliminarily identify the body as Peter E. Butler, 61, the same man reported missing on Friday after he was last seen in the water off the rocks at the end of Hazard Avenue.

Police said they were able to make the identification from “the clothing and identifying documentation found on the body” which was turned over to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for positive identification.

Police do not suspect foul play.

Butler reportedly took a taxi from a Warwick hotel before he ended up in the water on Friday, which caught the attention of some nearby teenagers on the rocks who took pictures of a man wearing a red sweatshirt in the water.

Authorities launched a search and spent hours on Friday scanning the water for any signs but ended up calling off the search Friday night. Members of the Narragansett Bay Marine Task Force along with the U.S. Coast Guard and other partners participated in the search.