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Body of missing boater recovered in Long Island Sound

GROTON – A body of one of the missing boaters in Groton was found shortly before 1 p.m. on Friday by Long Island Sound. According to The Department of Ene...

GROTON - A body of one of the missing boaters in Groton was found shortly before 1 p.m. on Friday by Long Island Sound.

According to The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the body has been identified as 21-year old Spencer Mugford.

Officials said he was found by a commercial fisherman off of the coast of Groton after he went missing for nearly two weeks. He was last seen with 20-year old Sofia McKenna who is still missing.

Mugford and McKenna were last seen together in a Snapchat video just after 2 a.m. May 27th.

FOX61 talked to Michelle McKenna, Sofia's mother, two weeks ago and she was overcome with emotion.

"2:05, repeatedly after, 2:06, 2:07, and then it went 2:08, 2:08, 2:08 and 2:09. I got the phone call from Spencer’s phone. I know Spencer didn’t know my phone number so I know it was my daughter calling me," said Michelle McKenna, Sofia's mother.

McKenna said she did not even see all her daughter's missed calls until Sunday afternoon and when she saw the repeated calls, she knew something was wrong.

Sofia's boyfriend, Austin Parrow said he did not get through her cell phone.

"The texts started sending as green and I just instantly had a bad feeling," said Austin Parrow, Sofia's boyfriend.

Sunday 6:30 p.m. is when Mugford and McKenna were officially reported missing.

The U.S. Coast Guard along with several local agencies searched for 71 hours trying to find the two but the search was called off at 10:30 p.m. on Monday.

"If a person is immersed in water like this, they probably have less than 20 hours of what we would consider as survival time," said Commander Andrew Ely with the U.S. Coast Guard.

Officials later discovered Mugford and McKenna's blue and white sailboat that was found on Truman Beach near Greenport, New York.

The McKenna's said they are extremely grateful for the outpour of support from the community, but said they will still cling onto hope that McKenna will turn up somewhere and someday.

"We still need help. You can’t give up," added McKenna.

"She’s tough so don’t give up on her because she’s going to be found," added Bernadette Ever, a family friend.

Mugford's remains have been transported to the Chief Medical Examiner's Office. Officials said they are also continuing to investigate since McKenna is still missing.

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