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Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Nicholas Garza web site Updated at 6:35am -- Leads Rejected in Garza Search (May 8, 2008)
Body Found in Vermont Creek Believed To Be Garza
The Associated Press
MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — A body believed to be that of missing collegian Nick Garza was pulled from the Otter Creek on Tuesday, police said.
The badly-decomposed body of an unidentified male was found among sunken timber in a floating debris pile below a waterfall as authorities prepared to mount another search this weekend. Searchers were taking temperature readings in the river and performing depth soundings when they found the remains, according to Police Chief Tom Hanley.
"They do appear to be the remains of Nicholas Garza, but identification will be made at an autopsy tomorrow," said Hanley.
Garza, 19, of Albuquerque, N.M., a freshman at Middlebury College, vanished Feb. 5 after leaving Stewart Hall dormitory during a winter break in classes, headed for his dormitory. He was reported missing five days later.
More than a half-dozen searches since then by Vermont State Police, search-and-rescue teams from around the region and volunteers organized by his mother, Natalie Garza, turned up nothing.
His wallet and cell phone have never been found, even though police found a winter jacket and laptop computer in his dormitory room.
Some here believed the melting of snow at winter's end would yield clues or a body, but it didn't, nor did several searches of Otter Creek, including one last month after aerial imaging showed an unidentified object in the water.
Mrs. Garza — who has been living on the Middlebury College campus since shortly after the disappearance and enrolled her 9-year-old son in school here — was present when the body was removed about 8:30 p.m., Hanley said. She could not immediately be reached for comment.
"The remains have been in the water for a long time. They are not in good shape," said Hanley.
The autopsy is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday at the office of the chief medical examiner in Burlington, he said.
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