Detectives with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office have identified a man found dead last week by fishermen in the Intracoastal Waterway. The investigation into the cause of the man’s death is still ongoing.
Francis Dellapelle, 61, of Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, has been identified as the man who was found in the waterway near Figure Eight Island on March 23, according to sheriff’s office spokesman Lt. Jerry Brewer.
“His death has been deemed undetermined by the medical examiner until the toxicology has come back,” Brewer said.
Dellapelle was found by fisherman who saw his body floating in the water behind the island, south of the Figure Eight Island Bridge, Brewer said. The fisherman who found him, contacted the U.S. Coast Guard at 11:30 a.m. and deputies responded to the scene.
At the time Dellapelle’s body was found, he was described as a white man who wore a grey long-sleeved shirt and black athletic pants with a white stripe down each side of the pant legs. Investigators estimated Dellapelle had been in the water between 24 and 36 hours, Brewer said.
The sheriff office detectives are continuing their death investigation.
