Body Found in Connecticut River Identified as Rocky Hill Man Missing Since Dec. 16

The body of a man found floating in the Connecticut River Saturday morning has been identified as a Rocky Hill resident missing for more than two months.

The chief medical examiner's office said Tuesday afternoon that Zbigniew Piekarski, 55, was the man whom a kayaker discovered in Middletown over the weekend just south of the Cromwell line, adjacent to Route 9.

At 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Piekarski was located near shore, but down a steep embankment, which made it impossible for officers to remove him, according to police. Middletown firefighters hoisted the body up the embankment to Route 9 at 11:30 a.m.

The medical examiner's office has ruled Piekarski's death as a suicide by drowning.

Late last year, Rocky Hill Police found Piekarski’s car abandoned off River Road on Dec. 16 and launched an investigation the next day with help from Cromwell Police, according to the Middletown Press. Searches of both banks of the Connecticut River by officers and canine units turned up empty.