NASHUA, N.H (WHDH) - Police in Nashua say they have confirmed that the body of a boy recovered from the Merrimack River is that of a teenager who was missing.
The Nashua Police say they received confirmation from the Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The body is confirmed to be Jacob Goulet, 16 of Nashua. Autopsy results are still pending at this time.
Nashua, New Hampshire Police officers responded to the area behind Main Street for a report of a person who may have fallen down a storm drain on Friday night.
Someone in the area noted an open drain with personal items on the ground nearby. Officers spoke with several people in the area but no one witnessed anyone fall into the storm drain.
A teenager was reported missing by a parent on Saturday morning just before 9 a.m.
Massachusetts State Police located the body around noon on Sunday in the Merrimack River in Tyngsborough.
A parent reported that his son, 16-year-old Jacob Goulet, hadn’t been seen or heard from since walking home during the heavy rain storm.
According to police, the parent said the behavior was out of the ordinary for his son.
Police determined the items located near the drain were possibly in Goulet’s possession, based on information from the parent, and that the route Goulet would have taken home would take him by the storm drain.
There are many unanswered questions from family, friends and strangers on how the incident happened.
A search began based on the possibility that Goulet was swept into the storm drain during the heavy rain on Friday night.
According to police, video surveillance viewed by detectives confirmed that Goulet did have the personal items near the storm drain and that he was on foot in the area of the storm drain during the heavy rain storm.
“It’s emotional,” local resident Diana Vele said. “I have a 19-year-old and 24. they’ll always be my babies not matter what.”
She said she was a mother who came to the memorial to offer support to the family.
Goulet’s uncle Darren Blouin said his family is devastated.
“My wife has been in tears all night, her mother has been crying all night, just not knowing,” Blouin said.
The storm drain where 16-year-old Jacob Goulet is believed to have fallen in and disappeared has been turned into a memorial.
Nicholas Brown says he was on of Goulet’s best friends.
“It doesn’t seem real to me that something like this could happen,” Brown said, “where I could be making jokes with him during the second block of school and then a day later, he turns up missing.”
Brown left behind a Converse shoe covered in hand-written messages and a note inside, saying Goulet wore Converse sneakers, his favorite shoes, to school every day.
According to police, a positive identification is still pending at this time; however, “initial investigation, clothing description and the body condition,” led them to believe the body is 16-year-old Jacob Goulet.
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