Police in Rhode Island believe they have found the body of missing Brown University student Sunil Tripathi.
Credit: Facebook
A Brown University student missing for more than a month and who authorities thought could have made his way to Boston, was possibly found in a Providence river Tuesday night.
A popular Facebook and Twitter campaign to find Sunil Tripathi was launched shortly after he disappeared from his apartment. A Facebook page dedicated to finding him grew to more than 10,000 likes and the Twitter account had nearly 1,000 followers.
Providence police told the Globe that a body was pulled from Providence River, and that Tripathi’s family had notbeen notified. However, a positive identification would have to be made by the medical examiner’s office Wednesday.
When the 22-year-old went missing in March, the Facebook campaign to find him had spread to nearby major cities. People in Boston said they posted fliers in certain neighborhoods hoping it would help locate him.
But the outpouring of support changed to mass suspicion last week when users of social media sites and blogs began speculating that Tripathi was one of the Boston Marathon bombers. The speculation ended when authorities released images of the bombing suspects, but Tripathi’s family called the speculation “incredibly painful.”
The search for Tripathi, which included major cities like Boston, New York and Philadelphia, began when he went missing March 16. Providence and Brown police had helped in the search.
Follow Michael Naughton on Twitter @metrobosmike.
