A man’s body was found floating in the Tidal Basin early Thursday, the second time during a week of heavy tourist traffic around the waterfront that such a gruesome discovery was made.
The Metropolitan Police Department was expected to release the man’s name sometime Thursday, a police spokesman said. His body was discovered floating in the west side of the Tidal Basin near the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial around 1 a.m. Thursday.
This is the second time in a week that a body was found in the water near areas that are a focal point for tourists coming to the District amidst the ongoing National Cherry Blossom Festival. This week has seen particularly heavy traffic around the Tidal Basin as the cherry trees were in peak bloom.
The discovery of another man’s body in the Potomac River near the Lincoln Memorial was made Saturday morning.
Two fisherman in a boat found the body of 63-year-old Robert M. Groshan in the water near 23rd Street and Independence Avenue in Southwest.
Mr. Groshan had suffered no obvious signs of trauma or physical injuries but the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is still working to determine a cause and manner of death, MPD spokesman Officer Araz Alali said. It was still unclear Thursday how he might have ended up in the water or how long he had been there, but police said he was reported missing from his Northwest home on March 21.
• Andrea Noble can be reached at anoble@washingtontimes.com.
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