Police continue to investigate the disappearance and now mysterious death of New Rochelle resident and longtime DeWitt Clinton High School employee, Christopher Corcoran, 61, whose body was discovered in the woods on Hunter Island, just North of Orchard Beach, on Monday, Dec. 26.

 

As reported, according to New Rochelle police, multiple law enforcement agencies had been looking for the employee of DeWitt Clinton High School, located in the Jerome Park section of The Bronx. who had disappeared without a trace nearly one month ago.

 

Clinton faculty and students were notified of Corcoran’s passing on the school’s Instagram page on Dec. 26 in a notice which read, “It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our dear colleague & friend, Chris Corcoran. Chris has been with Clinton since the early 90s and was always a pleasure to be around. To know him was to love him. May his soul rest in peace.”

 

Corcoran had been employed as a janitor at the local Jerome Park school. Hundreds soon acknowledged the post. Instagram user “didi_is_here0321: wrote, “RIP. Always had a great conversation w/ him at lunch,” while “Princessarchivee_” wrote, “Rest in peace, I’ll never forget you.”

 

On Dec. 26, at 9:45 a.m., a member of FDNY’s Engine 70 reported to a dispatcher that the fire unit, together with EMS, had located a dead body “deep in the woods” at Orchard Beach.

On Wednesday, Dec. 28, an unnamed police spokesperson at the NYPD told Norwood News regarding the missing person’s case that officers from the 45th Precinct responded to a 911 call on Dec. 26, at 9:14 a.m., saying, “Upon arrival, officers observed an unconscious and unresponsive 61-year-old male. EMS responded to the scene and pronounced him deceased on scene.” The spokesperson added that the Office of the City’s Medical Examiner would determine the exact cause of death, adding, “The investigation remains ongoing.”

 

Captain J. Collins Coyne of the New Rochelle Police Department, which, as reported, had been handling Corcoran’s disappearance and had overseen an extensive search for Corcoran following a report by his family that he had left his home on Nov. 16 and had not returned, spoke to Norwood News on Dec. 28 about the case.

 

Coyne said, “He was found on Hunter Island, which is right across from, yeah, Orchard Beach Island on the North side which faces New Rochelle.” Coyne said his office had alerted the NYPD of Corcoran’s disappearance and that he, Coyne, had been notified when Corcoran’s body was later found. He continued, “There’s going to be an autopsy by the New York City medical examiner to confirm the cause of death, but right now there is no foul play that was obvious.”

 

Asked if Corcoran had been living on Hunter Island, Coyne replied, “No, we have no reason to believe that. He was known to have left his apartment at a certain time and we’ve traced that to be accurate, and we knew he walked in that general area near the Long Island Sound.” Coyne said he believed that Corcoran walked south down Shore Road from New Rochelle through Pelham Manor and into Pelham Bay Park.

The police captain was asked when police believed Corcoran died. He said, “Well it’s hard to say until…..our preliminary…. we believe he died in the water. We don’t know how he got into the water or what circumstance brought him in the water, but we have to wait. We don’t know but that’s what we believe right now, but we’re waiting for the medical examiner to do an autopsy to find out.”

 

Asked about another body, which, as reported, had been found on Dec. 19 in the woods of Van Cortlandt Park, located diagonally across from DeWitt Clinton High School, Coyne said, “Yeah, it turned out that was a different guy. I think he was a male, Black, and this guy was a white male. We sent guys down to confirm that it wasn’t our guy at the time.”

 

On Dec. 8, Corcoran’s sister, Ellen, said that her brother had been experiencing stomach problems and hadn’t been sleeping when, at just after midnight on November 16, he was captured on the building’s surveillance camera leaving the building. Ellen said she believed her brother seemed “agitated” in the video. It was noted in a missing person’s flyer put out by Corcoran’s sister and girlfriend at the time that he might have appeared “disoriented.”

On Monday, Dec. 19, Corcoran’s girlfriend, also named Ellen, recalled speaking to Corcoran hours before he left his home. She said, “We had a good chat. We made plans for the coming weekend, and he said, ‘I love you, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow,’ and the next day he didn’t show up anywhere.”

 

This included at his job at DeWitt Clinton High School, according to Ellen. She added, “This is the most horrible situation you can be in. It is so horrible not knowing where he could be?”

 

On Dec. 14, Ray Pultinas, who taught English at Clinton for over two decades and who, as reported, currently runs the James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center on the Sedgwick Avenue side of the school’s campus, called Corcoran, “a very friendly, likeable and sweet man,” adding, “I’ve known him for at least 10 years, maybe more.”

 

Pultinas recalled, “He swept classrooms and also did some outdoor maintenance on the grounds. He’s a hard and honest worker, no slouch.” He concluded, “We’ve had many conversations over the years. He loved Rock ‘n Roll, grew up and lived on New Rochelle. My prayers go out to his family and friends. I’m sure he is missed by fellow staff of Clinton Campus. He was known and liked by everyone.”

 

Corcoran is survived by his mother, sister, and girlfriend.

 

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, on Twitter @NYPDTips.

All calls are strictly confidential.