BECKET, Mass. (AP) — Even though a search of a Berkshire County pond for the remains of his teenage son who vanished 21 years ago came up empty, a Westfield father has taken some solace from the efforts.
Sonar-equipped boats and divers from the Massachusetts and New York state police spent three days searching Greenwater Pond in Becket for bones, clothing, shoes or any item that may be connected to Jamie Lusher, 16, who disappeared in 1992 while riding his bicycle to his grandmother's house.
Police launched the search after Lewis Lent Jr., already serving a life sentence in prison for killing two 12-year-old children, confessed to killing Jamie and told authorities where to look for the remains.
Lent "unwittingly placed my son in a place that my son would have loved," James Lusher said Thursday standing next to the 88-acre pond.
"Now I feel fairly confident that I can come to a specific spot, and feel confident that that's where his body was placed, and that I can talk to him," he said.
Jamie's sister, Jennifer Nowak, said her brother would have loved the pond.
"Now when I go down the Mass Pike, I have a place where I can blow him a kiss," she said.
The family also thanked police for their search made difficult by poor visibility and cool water temperatures at depths of up to 58 feet, and several feet of sediment in some areas.
Efforts to find Jamie's remains are not over, state police Col. Timothy Alben said.
"I don't want to guess," Alben said. "There's all kinds of technologies in this world to look at ocean bottoms, or search the surface of the moon, and I don't want to get carried away with this, but I've got to believe there's got to be some technology that could be of assistance to us."
Dive teams will return to the pond for training sessions and continue the search when they can.
Anyone who lives, boats, fishes or swims on Greenwater Pond was urged to keep their eyes peeled and call police if they spot anything.
"We hope the coverage this week may triggers someone's memory," state police spokesman David Procopio said.