Resolved MA - Lowell, UncMale, 27-66, UP92543, found in Merrimack River, missing head, Jun '22 - namus removed

[citizen_sleuth]

NamUs #UP92543

Demographics
Sex: Male
Race/Ethnicity: N/A
Estimated Age Group: Adult
Estimated Age Range (Years): 27-66
Estimated Year of Death: N/A
Estimated PMI: N/A
Height: 5'6"-6'0" (66-72 inches), Estimated
Weight: Cannot Estimate
Cause of Death: Unknown

Circumstances
Type: Unidentified Deceased
Date Body Found: June 18, 2022
NamUs Case Created: June 22, 2022
ME/C QA Reviewed: N/A
Location Found: Lowell, Massachusetts
County: Middlesex County
Circumstances of Recovery: Found in Merrimack River, no head found with the body. No clothing or belongings found near the scene
Inventory of Remains: Head not recovered; one or more limbs not recovered
Condition of Remains: Not recognizable - Partial skeletal parts only

Physical Description
Hair Color: Unknown
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinctive Physical Features: No information entered

Clothing and Accessories
- No information entered

 

[Puzzleworth]

(map sourced from Wikipedia)
The Merrimack flows south from Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, through Concord, Manchester, and Nashua, before hanging a left around Chelmsford and flowing northeast through Lowell. The area is very densely settled. It's not uncommon to find bodies in the Merrimack (as evidenced by all the articles I had to dig through to find info on this Doe!) This article from the Lowell Sun states the body was found around the intersection of School and Pawtucket Streets.

 

[John/Jane Doe]

Paul Christian is a fairly likely possible match:

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

He disappeared in Lowell, Massachusetts.

 

[Puzzleworth]

Paul Christian is a fairly likely possible match:

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

He disappeared in Lowell, Massachusetts.

I'm 50-50 on whether Mr. Christian could be this Doe.

On the one hand, he disappeared from LGH Saints Campus, which is around a mile and a half downriver from where the Doe was found. The Merrimack River has a very strong flow. It's especially fast by the hospital because it sits where the Concord River meets the Merrimack. There is a maze of canals throughout downtown, which almost exactly link the hospital and the place the body was found...but they generally flow the same way as the rivers. The Lowell Sun article I posted upthread says:

Attempts to identify the man through missing persons reports in Lowell and surrounding towns have been unsuccessful to date.

The article was written about a month after Mr. Christian's Namus file was opened by the Lowell police department, so one would assume that his case was included in that.

On the other hand...well, stranger things have happened. Clerical errors, miscommunications, etc. There's also no telling exactly where Mr. Christian went after disappearing. He could have traveled west and then entered the river somewhere upstream. If this article is about the same man, he's jumped into the river before.

I would send this match in, just in an abundance of caution. Unfortunately the Mass. OCME is slow in updating its Namus cases so it's unlikely that ruleouts will be listed any time soon.

 

[iulia]

His NamUs page is down at the moment.