Duck hunter finds body near Outer Banks, three weeks after a kayaker went missing

A body has been found on the shores of North Carolina’s Croatan Sound, three weeks after a kayaker went missing in the same general area.

The remains have been identified as Alexander Rush, 26, who was last seen Dec. 5 when he went fishing near the Old Manns Harbor Bridge, officials reported in a Jan. 4 update. He lived in Kill Devil Hills.

The body was found around 3 p.m. Dec. 28, according to John Beardsley of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. The Croatan Sound runs between the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge and Roanoke Island, adjacent to the Outer Banks.

“A duck hunter discovered a deceased person on the shore line between Manns Harbor and Stumpy Point near Point Peter Road,” Beardsley said in a release obtained by McClatchy News.

Rush’s wife, Kateryna Rush, reported him missing Dec. 6 and searchers later found his vehicle parked at an access area near the bridge. The couple was married in October, according to her Facebook page.

A search that included the U.S. Coast Guard was launched, and Rush’s overturned kayak was found two days later in the Croatan Sound, about “nine miles southeast of the Old Manns Harbor Bridge,” officials said.

Rush’s wife has posted a series of pleas on Facebook in recent weeks, asking people who live in the Manteo area to help search nearby land in case her husband made it to shore.

“It is too much land for us to cover on foot so I really need all the help of you. (If you) have a spare minute just to go out there and look,” she posted Dec. 8.

This story was originally published December 29, 2020 at 10:11 AM with the headline "Duck hunter finds body near Outer Banks, three weeks after a kayaker went missing."