The Maryland Natural Resources Police have ended a three-week search for a missing Chesapeake Beach man after discovering his body Thursday afternoon in the seas off Dorchester County.
Lonnie James Johnson, 65, was discovered dead near Taylors Island when NRP aviators spotted a body from the department’s Natural 1 helicopter during an aerial search at 12:30 p.m. The agency stated that the date was December 4. Officers responded to Taylors Island’s northwest beach, south of the mouth of the Little Choptank River, where the recconfirmed the date asovery was made.
Johnson’s 23-foot center console vessel was located unmanned on November 14 near the Taylors Island region, one day after leaving Chesapeake Beach for fishing on November 13.
According to the NRP, search efforts lasted 21 days and included the Maryland State Police, the United States Coast Guard, the Civil Air Patrol, the Anne Arundel County Fire Department, the Charles County Dive Rescue, the Calvert County Rescue Dive Team, the Baltimore County Police Department, the Huntingtown Volunteer Fire Department, the St. Leonard Volunteer Fire Department, and numerous other allied agencies, volunteers, and good Samaritans.
