LYME -- Emergency crews searched all day Monday for a missing boater near Hamburg Cove, but have only found his boat.
Authorities said they were looking for Julius Thigpen, 50, from Hartford. His boat was found right-side-up by searchers during the afternoon near the channel that connects the Hamburg Cove to another cove.
Police got to the scene just before 3 a.m. Monday morning after Thigpen's family went searching for him when he didn't return home. The family found his pickup truck and boat trailer, and then called for help.
Lyme, Essex, Chester and Old Saybrook fire departments responded to the scene, as did The State Police helicopter Trooper 1 and a dive team.
Around 5 p.m. the search was put on hold until the morning, and the missing person had still not been located. State police divers are expected to be back out on the water in Lyme Tuesday morning.
According to Sharon Tracy, who lives around the cove, the victim had been a "regular" fishing there.
"Often he and his friends would come across the backyards and all of us pretty much have given permission to fish off our backyards," Tracy said.
Police said Thigpen had life jackets but left them in his pickup.
