Dead Body Found Hundreds of Yards from Biden's Rehoboth Beach House
The body of a missing swimmer was found Monday near Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where President Joe Biden has a beach house.
Richard Boateng, 31, of Savage, Maryland, had last been seen Sunday evening in the surf off Rehoboth Beach, the city’s police department said, according to Delaware Online.
A search in which multiple local agencies were involved ensued after several calls to 911 were made.
Boeteng’s body was spotted about 6 a.m. Monday in the ocean off of North Shores, a small community north of Rehoboth Beach.
The location was a few hundred yards to the east of where the Bidens have a beach home.
The president spent the weekend there, generating headlines for saying he had to stay in Rehoboth because he had “no home to go to.”
According to the Cape Gazette in nearby Lewes, Delaware, a fence was erected about the Biden house last year, in addition to other security measures. The fence cost $455,000.
With the president in town for the Labor Day weekend, the Coast Guard established security zones in the ocean beyond the area where the body was found, according to the Cape Gazette.
Biden goes for walks on the beach that would have been in the vicinity of where the body was found.
The Bidens bought the property in 2017, according to The Daily Times in Salisbury, Maryland.
Although the president will be traveling this week, first lady Jill Biden will remain at the house after testing positive for COVID-19 on Monday.
According to WGMD-TV in Rehoboth Beach, 911 calls about Boateng started coming in about 20 minutes after lifeguards had gone off duty Sunday.
“I thought somebody was waving his hand,” the station quoted a witness it identified only as Mohan as saying.
“Probably he was shouting ‘help’ and we suddenly realized, yeah, he needs help. So then I started shouting, ‘Help! We need a lifeguard.’ We were shouting, shouting, shouting and finally when I turned to this side. I can’t see him. He just lifted his hand and he drowned,” Mohan said.
The search for Boateng continued after dark.
Police have said foul play is not suspected.
According to the Cape Gazette, the Rehoboth Beach Police and the Division of Forensic Science are investigating the circumstances of Boateng’s death.
Body of missing Rehoboth Beach swimmer, 31, washes ashore in Delaware: report https://t.co/GAhg6JBe2F pic.twitter.com/RKIEwakoqI
— New York Post (@nypost) September 5, 2023
The National Weather Service had issued a warning about “life-threatening rip currents and large battering waves through the weekend” for Atlantic beaches, according to the Delaware News Journal.
Distant Atlantic storms continue to stir up the western Atlantic, creating potentially deadly surf and rip currents along the US East Coast.
When visiting the ocean, you are safest at beaches with lifeguards. Stay Weather-Ready and learn more about rip current safety at… pic.twitter.com/Q1YLfals11
— National Weather Service (@NWS) September 1, 2023
“Distant Atlantic storms continue to stir up the western Atlantic, creating potentially deadly surf and rip currents along the US East Coast,” it said in a social media post on Saturday.
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