CT officials: Body of missing Spring Valley boater found; 1 boater remains missing

One of the two boaters from the Hudson Valley who went missing in the waters near Cockenoe Island on Sunday has been found, according to Connecticut police.

News 12 Staff

Oct 23, 2023, 4:40 PM

Updated 207 days ago

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One of the two boaters from the Hudson Valley who went missing in the waters near Cockenoe Island on Sunday has been found, according to Connecticut police.
Police say the body of Juan Gabriel Valle Pineda, of Spring Valley, was found three miles northeast of the sunken boat at 4:30 p.m. on Monday. The search for the second boater was suspended at 9 p.m., according to officials.
Chopper 12 captured the moment police found the lost boat. They deployed dive teams to retrieve and investigate the area but initially had no luck in finding the two missing people.
Police say the small fishing boat with five people on-board sank sometime after 9:30 a.m. Sunday. The boat had been anchored off of Cockenoe Island and all five people ended up in the Sound.
Around 4 p.m., a group of six people on a boat saw three people in the water near Cockanoe Island.
"Next thing we know we see people waving on this red buoy…hanging on for their lives," says Molly Mayeux, one of the people who helped rescue the boaters.
She says once they managed to get them out of the water, they covered them in blankets.
“They were just shivering and freezing,” says Mayeux.
News 12 Connecticut’s Angelica Toruno spoke to four of the people who rescued the boaters.
They said the relief of saving the three people quickly wore off when they realized there were still two others missing. They tried to look for them but the conditions on the water kept getting worse, so they headed back to shore.
"At first, I was like we were so lucky to save you, and then it was gut wrenching to find out that there were two other people we never saw,” says Mayeux.


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