The Rochester Police Department has confirmed that the body pulled from the waters of Lake Ontario Friday night is missing RIT student Max Maisel. The cause of death is still being determined.
A fisherman discovered the body around 7:30 p.m. Friday night and notified the U.S. Coast Guard. The body was about 200 yards away from the Coast Guard Station. Maisel had been missing since late February when he was last seen on Charlotte Pier.
Max Maisel's family released this statement through the Rochester Police Department today:
"We would like to thank the U.S. Coast Guard and the Rochester Police Department, including the Office of the Medical Examiner, for their work over the weekend to remove Max’s remains from Lake Ontario and make a positive identification. We appreciate everything they, as well as so many other public safety officials in the region, have done for us over the last eight weeks.
We knew this day would come, and we are relieved that it has. But it is merely the postscript to our sad story. We have mourned Max from the night that the Rochester police called to tell us he was missing. There was no other plausible solution to the puzzle he left behind.
Now we must get on with living with this hole in our lives.
Death cannot take away the love we continue to have for our son and the love that our daughters have for their brother. Death will not rob us of that.
We have our memories of a sweet boy who grew into a sensitive, caring young man. We have his photography, a record of the talent he had just begun to develop. We have the care and concern of family and friends in our home of Fairfield, CT, and across the country. Here again, we must say thanks to the people of Rochester and Monroe County, who took our devastating news and made it their own. Whatever gratitude we express here is wholly inadequate.
And we have how desperately we miss him. That will not go away."
RIT issued this statement:
“Today, with heavy hearts, the RIT family is mourning the loss of Max Maisel, a third-year professional photographic illustration student from Fairfield, Connecticut.
You may recall that Max has been missing since Feb. 22. Sadly, the U.S. Coast Guard recovered a body Friday evening in Lake Ontario. It was officially confirmed today that it was Max.
Our deepest sympathies and condolences go out to Max’s family and friends. We take comfort that there is now some closure for them and they will be able to bring Max home.
Since learning of Max’s disappearance, members of the Division of Student Affairs have been offering assistance to the family and students, and we will continue to do so. RIT would also like to thank the Rochester Police Department for its relentless and unwavering, nearly two month search for Max.”