Missing Centereach man found dead in vehicle in West Islip, police say

A Centereach man missing for nearly three weeks was found dead in his SUV in a roadside ravine, police said Friday — a discovery made possible by the efforts of a curious friend of a friend who had embarked on an enterprising search of his own.

The body of Thomas Kelsey, 45, was found Thursday evening in his 2015 GMC Yukon off Route 231 on the border of North Babylon and West Islip, Suffolk County police said.

Steve D'Amico, 40, of Farmingville, said he came upon the SUV after he followed the search for Kelsey in the news and on Facebook and decided to Google some travel routes near where Kelsey's cellphone had last pinged, then search areas where the SUV might have gone off the road unnoticed. 

Police believe Kelsey, who was last seen leaving Katch, a Lindenhurst restaurant, on July 7, crashed on the off ramp from northbound Route 231 to eastbound Sunrise Highway — careening across a small grass median, then across the on ramp to Route 231, and through a guardrail and down into a wooded sump area inside the cloverleaf between the roadways. Police said the crash was not recent.

Officers and detectives had looked for Kelsey and his SUV, deploying patrol units, searching waterways and canals, using aviation units — all to no avail. Friends of Kelsey, a livery cabdriver, had gone door-to-door in Lindenhurst handing out missing persons fliers.

D'Amico, a self-described hardware technician who at one time worked for a private investigator, said his friend, Dina Love, had posted regular updates on the search on her Facebook page. Love, who described herself as a friend of Kelsey's for 12 years, said she'd hung out with Kelsey and other friends at Katch the night he went missing.

D'Amico said he'd met Love a few years ago and he'd followed as she posted regular updates on Kelsey. Seeing how long Kelsey had been missing, D'Amico said he began to Google travel routes between Lindenhurst and Centereach.

On Thursday, D'Amico said he climbed into his 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe and, having spotted the heavy vegetation along the Route 231 corridor between Montauk Highway and Sunrise Highway, drove north, flashers on, looking for a clue.

"I did the math," D'Amico said. "I just added it up. What route would you take, what route would I take? Then I went through them, route-by-route, and I looked for an intersection where if I lost control I wouldn't be found."

Driving north on Route 231, D'Amico said, "There was all this heavy vegetation, a fence, no holes, no tire tracks. I just saw nothing that was obvious."

He got to the exit ramp. "Then, he said, I saw that."

What he saw, across the adjacent ramp, was an orange-and-white construction barrel and a hole in the guardrail.

D'Amico parked his Hyundai nearby, then raced back up the ramp.

"When I got there the guardrail was totally smashed," he said. "About five feet past the guardrail, something like 20 feet down, I see the vehicle.

"I was completely stunned," he said. 

D'Amico said he climbed down, saw the SUV all smashed, windows fogged. He checked the license plate and saw it began EYE … the same letters he'd seen on Kelsey's plates in the missing person flier on line. He took some pictures of the plate, then climbed back to the roadway — and called 911.

"I told them that I think I found the missing man from Centereach," D'Amico said. "They didn't really completely believe me." The dispatcher kept asking D'Amico where he was and how to get there and about 15 minutes later, D'Amico said, two patrol officers arrived at the scene.

"I told them there's a car down there and it's most likely the missing person that's been reported and I think they had some issues with that — and, rightfully so. I mean, I'm just some random guy who's driving around. But I showed them the picture I took and I said, 'That is what's down there' and then the one officer and I climbed down and he used a flashlight — and that's when they verified it was him."

D'Amico said he then talked to two detectives and that it wasn't long before a helicopter arrived and people began to gather along the ramp areas.

Police said Kelsey was pronounced dead at the scene. His death, police said, appears noncriminal and the medical examiner will determine the cause.

While D'Amico was at the scene, his friend Love said she started getting Facebook messages about a big police presence at a location not far from where Kelsey's cellphone had last pinged — a cell tower near Sunrise and Robert Moses Causeway. She had mentioned that location on Facebook.

"I knew right away in my gut it was him," Love, 38, of Lindenhurst, said Friday.

It wasn't until hours later at 12:52 a.m. Friday when she got a text from D'Amico that it was confirmed. 

"I found your friend Tom tonight," D'Amico wrote, according to Love. "I'm so sorry for your loss, Dina. It was your post on Facebook that gave me the idea where to look."

Love said she's grateful for D'Amico's efforts, and now that Kelsey's been found the mourning process for his friends and family can begin. 

"It brings closure. We can stop searching and it's the beginning of the time to mourn," Love said. "Tom can rest in peace now."

With Nicole Fuller and Joan Gralla

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”