UPDATE: Missing swimmer found dead near North Shores

Updated 1:10 p.m., Monday, Sept. 4: After a multi-agency, overnight search, Rehoboth Beach Police have reported that missing swimmer Richard A. Boateng was located deceased on the beach in the North Shores community in the area of Ocean Drive and Farview Road.   

Rehoboth Beach Police Lt. Jamie Riddle said Boateng was found Monday, Sept. 4, just before 6 a.m. Members of the Rehoboth Beach Police, Delaware State Parks Enforcement Division, and the Rehoboth Beach Volunteer Fire Department responded to a sighting of a human body in the surf, he said.

Along with police and fire personnel, Sussex County Paramedics arrived on scene and positively identified the body as the missing Boateng, who was pronounce dead on scene, said Riddle.

A death investigation is being conducted by the Rehoboth Beach Police and the Division of Forensic Science.

Original post, 3:15 a.m., Monday, Sept. 4: Multiple state and local agencies are searching for a swimmer who went missing in Rehoboth Beach in the early evening hours of Sunday, Sept. 3.

According to a press release issued at 12:20 a.m., Monday, Sept. 4, by Rehoboth Beach Police Department Lt. Jamie Riddle, Richard A. Boateng was last seen around 5:45 p.m. Sept. 3, in the ocean surf off the beach in the area of Rehoboth Avenue.

Boateng, 31 of Savage, Md., is a Black male, 5-feet-10-inches tall, 170 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, said Riddle. Boateng was last seen wearing a bright-blue-and-white swimsuit with a floral design and a blue swim cap, he said.

Immediately upon receiving multiple 911 calls, a multiagency search and rescue effort began in the water and beach areas north and south of the location where Boateng was last seen, said Riddle. The Rehoboth Beach Patrol, Rehoboth Beach Volunteer Fire Company, U.S. Coast Guard, Delaware State Police Aviation Unit, DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife, and Rehoboth Beach Police Department all participated, he said.

The Coast Guard is continuing the ocean search at this time, said Riddle.

Anyone who was a witness to or has any information about this incident is asked to contact Master Cpl. Susan Gladmon at 302-227-2577. Information can also be submitted through the police department’s website at cityofrehoboth.com/form/government/departments/police/submit-crime-tip or via its Facebook page at facebook.com/rehobothbeachpolice.