The search for a 19-year-old man missing in Saratoga Springs since Sunday ended Tuesday, March 8, after a search crew found his body submerged in Putnam Creek around 11 a.m.
According to Saratoga Springs police, the body of Alexander Grant was found by a search crew consisting of Saratoga Springs City Firefighters and New York State Forest Rangers. His body was recovered within three tenths of a mile from where he was last seen at 3 Care Lane, said police, and is about 300 yards north of Sunnyside Gardens and 200 yards from the railroad line.
Firefighters using underwater probing equipment located Grant’s body in what police described as an open section of a bend in Putnam Creek, an area where water is about four feet deep. According to police, Grant had become entangled in underbrush beneath the water line.
Grant’s family is in the area and has been notified. They have requested that the media respect their privacy as they deal with this very tragic event, said police.
The search for Grant has been ongoing since Sunday night and was halted temporarily due to weather conditions and nightfall.
Police believe that Grant attended a house party at a private residence on Church Street and was last seen there at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday night. At about 1:15 a.m. Sunday, Grant is observed on surveillance video breaking into a medical office building at 3 Care Lane. At that time he was dressed only in a pair of shorts, a long sleeve shirt and had only one sock on his feet, police said. The surveillance video indicates that Grant had become injured and was bleeding. He was last observed leaving the office building at about 2:15 a.m.
Grant was reported missing at about 5 p.m. on Sunday afternoon and it was confirmed that Grant is the individual in the office building.
The search is being concentrated in the wooded areas along the railroad tracks between Church Street and Denton Road after Grant’s pants, one sock and identification were located nearby. The area is heavily wooded with deep ravines, a creek and several wet areas with snowdrifts in some places several feet deep.
According to police, searchers did locate some indications of footprints in the woods Sunday night before conditions deteriorated to the point where the tracks were covered over with new snow and conditions became unsafe for continued ground searching.
Grant is from the Westchester Town of Briarcliff and was in the area visiting friends. Police do not believe that he is familiar with the area.
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