Body of missing teen boater Jack Koch recovered from North Shore harbor, family says

The family of the teen who fell off a sailboat in Oyster Bay Harbor on May 15 confirmed Monday that his body was recovered by Nassau police Sunday in Lloyd Harbor. 

Kate Koch, the mother of 19-year-old Jack Koch, said in a statement that her son’s body was found by a fisherman in waters off Caumsett State Park.  

“While our hearts are broken at the loss of Jack, we are relieved he has been returned to us and grateful for the outpouring of love, generosity, and support from our wonderful community,” the Koch family said in the statement sent to Newsday by family friend Kate Doerge. “Jack was the most loyal, kind, and hardworking young man and we will hold him in our hearts forever.”           

Police previously said a 19-year-old man went overboard from a 25-foot boat while sailing with an 18-year-old friend in Oyster Bay Harbor around 11:30 p.m. May 15. Unable to locate the missing man, the 18-year-old then called a friend, who took another boat to help search, police said at the time.

Nassau police declined comment Monday. 

The man whose body was recovered was pronounced dead at Theodore Roosevelt Marina on Sunday in Oyster Bay shortly after being recovered by Nassau County Marine Bureau officers and Oyster Bay constables. 

The U.S. Coast Guard and police reported that after 911 was notified, a multiagency search ensued, involving a Coast Guard small search boat from Station Eatons Neck, helicopters from Air Station Cape Cod and Air Station Atlantic City, as well as Nassau police Marine Bureau, Emergency Services and Aviation Bureau officers, the NYPD Aviation Bureau, Oyster Bay constables and members of the Bayville, Oyster Bay and Centre Island fire departments.

The body discovered Sunday was transported to the Nassau County Medical Examiner’s Office for evaluation and identification. 

It was the second body recovered in local waters this month after South Shore speedboat racer James Jaronczyk, 28, of Massapequa was thrown from his 22-foot powerboat into the Great South Bay. After an exhaustive search, his body was recovered May 11 in the bay — more than four days after he went overboard and not far from where he was reported missing, Suffolk County police said.