Body pulled from Schuylkill River identified as missing 21-year-old Ausar Scott-Thomas: police
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A man who had been missing since March 7 was found dead in the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia on Sunday, police confirmed Wednesday.
The body of 21-year-old Ausar Scott-Thomas was pulled from the river Sunday and later identified, a Philadelphia police spokesperson said.
"When he went missing, man, I couldn't sleep," Scott-Thomas' father Will Thomas said.
Will Thomas said his son is his heart and soul and was studying electrical engineering at Thaddeus Stevens College in Lancaster.
"He did physics last year," Thomas said. "He was a very talented academically young man."
Late last month, the mother of 18-year-old Quadir Diaz told CBS Philadelphia her son and Scott-Thomas were missing since March 7.
Quadir Diaz and Scott-Thomas were friends, and according to his mother Taniesha Diaz, Quadir Diaz was an aspiring rapper and expecting father and Scott-Thomas was a "good kid."
Quadir Diaz's family has been searching for him and Scott-Thomas nearly every day since they went missing, CBS Philadelphia's Ray Strickland reported in late March.
One of their searches led them to an area of Fairmount Park where Taniesha Diaz said their belongings were found, as well as Quadir Diaz's car.
"No activity with him cashing his checks, no phone. His phone is gone," Taniesha Diaz said. "It's like they vanished without a trace."
CBS News Philadelphia is working to learn what happened to Scott-Thomas or if there are any updates in Quadir Diaz's case in light of the recent discovery.
"The body had no signs of trauma and the Medical Examiner's Office is working to determine a cause of death," spokesperson Shawn Ritchie wrote in an email.
Philadelphia police's Marine Unit was called to the Schuylkill near the 2900 block of Spring Garden Street around 3:30 p.m. Sunday for a report of a body in the river.
Scott-Thomas was pronounced dead at 5:10 p.m. Sunday.
