Skip to main content

Police Identify Man Whose Body Washed Up in Sag Harbor Cove

Mon, 08/08/2022 - 14:35
Bryan Downey took this picture of Keith Viagas on July 23, when he encountered him swimming at dawn at Long Beach.
Bryan Downey

Update, 11:45 a.m. Tuesday: Southampton Town Police have identified the deceased man as Keith Viagas, 63, of Noyac. In a press release issued Tuesday morning, Lt. Susan Ralph said his family has been notified.

Bryan Downey, a Sag Harbor photographer, filmmaker, and carpenter who had talked with Mr. Viagas at Long Beach two and a half weeks ago, said Tuesday morning that he had called Southampton Town police after reading about the body that had washed ashore in the vicinity of Bay Point. The description police provided matched that of Mr. Viagas, who had been swimming off Long Beach the day Mr. Downey encountered him. It was dawn and Mr. Downey had been cleaning the beach, as is his custom.

About a mile from where he met Mr. Viagas, Mr. Downey had found "a backpack and a small cooler full of prescription drugs," which he put in his Jeep and had intended to turn into Sag Harbor Village police. Before doing so, he said, he checked the bags for some kind of identification and found that they belonged to Mr. Viagas. He returned them to the address on the ID, on a Noyac street that dead-ends on Sag Harbor Cove. Not finding Mr. Viagas at home, Mr. Downey went back to the beach, where he found him, "looking a little distraught." He told Mr. Viagas that he had found his bags and dropped them off at his address and then gave Mr. Viagas a ride home. 

Update, 3:15 p.m. Monday: Lt. Susan Ralph said in a press release that  Southampton Town police are trying to identify the man who washed ashore in Sag Harbor Cove Monday. He is believed to be between 40 and 50 years old, she said. Anyone who has information can contact the town detectives at 631-702-2230.

The original call came in at 11:43 a.m., Lieutenant Ralph said. The county medical examiner has removed the man from the beach. 

Update, 3 p.m. Monday: Southampton Town Police Detective Tim Wilson said on scene as the investigation continued that "no foul play" is suspected in what he described as a "water-related death."

Detective Wilson said the victim, a male, had a large, bushy beard that made it difficult to determine his race. He was wearing a black T-shirt and black water shoes and was "in the water for a while," the detective said.

Originally, 2:39 p.m. Monday: Southampton Town police officers, detectives, and bay constables along with the Suffolk County medical examiner are responding to an unidentified beach in the vicinity of Bay Point in Noyac, where a body has washed ashore.

Lt. Susan Ralph of the Southampton Town Police Department confirmed at 2:30 p.m. that there is an investigation underway, but said no additional information was immediately available.

This is a developing story that will be updated as more information becomes available.

Long Days on the Fire Line In Orange County

East Hampton and Amagansett firefighters volunteered to head north last week to help fight a 5,000-acre wildfire in Orange County, N.Y., not once but twice, battling unfamiliar terrain to do so. “They fight fires completely differently than we do when we have a brush fire,” the Amagansett chief said.

Nov 21, 2024

Awards for Good Policing in Handgun Scuffle

“It could have gone worse. We’re lucky that I have officers here that weren’t shot,” said Police Chief Jeff Erickson at Friday’s East Hampton Village Board meeting. Chief Erickson was recognizing Sgt. Wayne Gauger and Officers John Clark and Robbie Greene for a traffic stop on Aug. 31 that turned into a scuffle and the eventual confiscation of an illegal gun.

Nov 21, 2024

On the Police Logs 11.21.24

A Three Mile Harbor Drive resident reported an online dating scam on the afternoon of Nov. 16. Somehow, said the 80-year-old man, a person on the dating platform had gotten his phone number and demanded $2,000 from him, threatening to tell his family he was using the site if he did not comply. Police told the man to block the number.

Nov 21, 2024

Head-On Collision on Route 27

A 2-year-old was taken to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital following a head-on collision Saturday afternoon on State Route 27 near Upland Road in Montauk.

Nov 21, 2024

 

Your support for The East Hampton Star helps us deliver the news, arts, and community information you need. Whether you are an online subscriber, get the paper in the mail, delivered to your door in Manhattan, or are just passing through, every reader counts. We value you for being part of The Star family.

Your subscription to The Star does more than get you great arts, news, sports, and outdoors stories. It makes everything we do possible.