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Body of teen believed to be found, presumed to have fallen down storm drain

NASHUA, N.H. — A body found in the Merrimack River in Tyngsborough Sunday appears to be that of a missing Nashua teen who police believe fell into a large open sewer while walking home in a rainstorm Friday night.

Massachusetts State Police Air Wing helicopter crews discovered the body shortly after 11 a.m., on Sunday.

The medical examiner is conducting an autopsy, but so far has not publicly identify the body. However, Nashua police say the condition of the body and the clothing match Jacob Goulet's description.

Surveillance cameras captured 16-year-old Jacob returning from a friend's house behind 75 Main St. in Nashua around 10 p.m., within minutes of police receiving a report of a person who had possibly fallen into the open storm drain.

Frances Lee Sanders told FOX25 she witnessed the aftermath of the accident, finding an open sewer in the heavy rains and an umbrella and a hat nearby, items police would later identify as belonging to Jacob.

"That's when I started yelling, 'Help! Help!' And I looked around the river, yelling back and forth," Sanders said. "I feel so bad for the family, because I think maybe if I would've came earlier, maybe he still would've been nearby."

When Jacob didn't return home, his father spent all night searching, before reporting him missing to police shortly before 9 a.m., on Saturday morning.

Police, firefighters, dive teams and other search crews searched the Nashua and Merrimack Rivers, as well as the underground sewer system, police said.

"We were literally thinking of sending people down there, but the water flow was just -without being positive somebody was down there - was just absolutely unsafe," Nashua Police Chief Andrew Lavoie said.

Jacob's uncle told FOX25 Saturday he was still holding out hope despite the bleak situation.

"My wife's home bawling, (my daughter's) grandmother is home crying, his fathers just a wreck," Darren Blouin said. "It's just awful just not knowing."

Mayor James Donchess told reporters in a Sunday news conference the city is investigating why the cover of the storm drain was off.

"We're going to be looking at the situation of whether this was secured or not, and looking at the other entries to the sewer system." Donchess said. "We're going to be looking into how that may have come off, whether it could have been water or air or some other cause. That's not clear now, and that's something we'll be looking into."

Donchess said the city hired a contractor to use a camera to scope thousands of feet of sewer piping, but found no sign of Jacob.

The sewer system does not directly dump into the Merrimack River, where the body was found. The cover is at the juncture of two large pipes that feed into the water treatment plant, where there is no outlet to the river, Donchess said. However, further down the system, there is a combined sewer overflow, which can allow discharge into the river when there are very heavy rains, as was the case Friday night.

A Nashua Public Works crew secured the storm drain cover with bolts Sunday afternoon. The mayor promised to make sure every other storm drain in the city is safe.

"We'll be looking at how to prevent anything like this in the future," Donchess said.

Teenage friends visited the site of the accident, comforting one another, as a complete stranger left flowers in honor of Jacob, a student at Nashua High School North. Grief counselors are available for students at school.

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