NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — The medical examiner’s office announced that the two teenage boys who disappeared while swimming at Jacob Riis Park beach last month drowned.
Police discovered two bodies in the water off the shore of the Rockaways in Queens, just over a week after two teenage boys went missing while swimming in the area.
An extensive search was carried out by local agencies, the U.S. Park Police and the U.S. Coast Guard in the days following the teens’ disappearance.
One of the teens was found by Beach 149th Street and Rockaway Beach Boulevard on Sunday and the other close to Beach 114th Street and Ocean Promenade on Saturday, authorities said.
Eight days before the first body was found, 16-year-old Elyjha Chandler and 17-year-old Christian Perkins vanished while swimming off of Jacob Riis Park beach.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry told reporters on June 21 that witnesses said the boys tried to jump up and slice a large wave before being pulled from sight.
"The wave was extremely high, and it went on top of them and sucked them over. We think that it may be a riptide, but that’s still under investigation," Daughtry said.