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The body of William Woodworth who went missing in January , was found on the beach in Southampton Village.
A landscaper working at a Meadow Lane property in Southampton Village on the afternoon of April 14 saw what she thought was a body on the Shinnecock Bay shoreline and contacted police, who determined it was the body of a man who went missing in January.
The deceased was identified as William Woodworth, who had disappeared from his home in Hampton Bays. At the time, police worried he’d gone into Shinnecock Bay, suicidal, after articles of clothing were found on the beach in the neighborhood near Pawnee Street where Mr. Woodworth, a Massapequa resident, had a second home.
“We searched for him for a month, and he couldn’t be located,” Lieutenant Susan Ralph of the Southampton Town Police recalled Tuesday, April 20.
The Coast Guard was notified by Southampton Town Police to commence the search at approximately 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, January 17. Suffolk County Police Aviation participated in the search both with a helicopter and drones. Volunteers from the Hampton Bays Fire Department also added a drone to the search effort, while personnel searched area marinas and walked local docks and the shoreline, as a member of the department joined the search on the waters of east Shinnecock Bay, piloting his own craft.
Also participating in the effort were the New York State Police K-9 unit, the Southampton Village Police K-9 team, the Suffolk County sheriff’s office, Southampton Town Bay Constables, members of the Southampton Fire Department and Sea Tow.
The search continued daily, to no avail, throughout January.
