14 DAY TRIAL // Police believe they might have been led to the body of missing ASU Student Jack Culolias, in the waters near Tempe Marketplace.
The remains emerged on Sunday afternoon, December 16, and they were spotted by a search party that included members of the Arizona Search Track and Rescue and the Find Me group.
The rescue mission was organized independently, as the institutions are not affiliated with the Tempe Police Department, AZ Central writes.
He was found in a “very swamplike” area, in close proximity to where he was last seen. His body would have easily been concealed by the abundant vegetation by the water. Volunteers from the aforementioned NGO were asked by his family to search the region, on Saturday.
“We don’t know how this body just popped up right now. [...] It could be the weather that we just had - the rain, the cold, the temperature drop,” Tempe Police Department spokesman Sgt. Mike Pooley says.
Apart from the location being near the spot where Culolias went missing, there are other factors that seem to point to the body being his. The clothing items and the physical characteristics of the floating body also match those of the ASU student.
One of his sneakers was recovered soon after he vanished, near a pillar located by the same waters. Culolias was wearing jeans, a black shirt and red Vans shoes when he went missing.
Reports say that Culolias disappeared from the Cadillac Ranch restaurant and bar in Tempe, on November 30. He was in the middle of a pledge ceremony for the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at the time.
“We don’t know whether or not it’s Jack. [...] There’s a good chance it is. We just have to wait for the Medical Examiner’s Office,” Pooley adds. Tests are currently being performed to confirm who the floating body belongs to.