Roughly five miles from Martha Vineyard’s Chappaquiddick, a joint-agency search team found the body of a 43-year-old black male shortly before 10 a.m. Monday after a search of Edgartown Great Pond triggered by a 7:46 p.m. Sunday call from 79 Turkeyland Cove Road–the estate of President Barack Obama.
According to a Massachusetts State Police release, the man’s body was recovered 100 feet from the shore at a depth of roughly eight feet.
Massachusetts Environmental Police officers searched the depths with side-scan sonar from a boat, the release said. The man was paddleboarding with a companion, who watched the drowned man enter the water, struggle to stay on the surface, and then go underwater without returning.
There is no known direct connection between the Obamas and the incident, and the companion may have gone to the nearest house for help–the Obama estate.
Obama has not yet made a statement.
The Obamas have a $18 million home and property on the wealthy island enclave with 30 acres on the pond’s waterfront, which they purchased in 2019.
The brackish pond is the home of otters, eels, waterfowl and other wildlife.
The joint-agency search team included Massachusetts State Police, Dukes County Sheriff’s Department, U.S. Coast personnel and local fire department divers.
The fatality is being investigated by the state police detectives attached to the Cape and Island District Attorney and the Edgartown Police Department.