KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine — The search is continuing for two missing Landing School students after the discovery of clothing belonging to one on rocks on a small island off Cape Porpoise on Monday.
One of the articles of clothing is “marked in such a way as to indicate ownership to one of the missing men,” Police Chief Craig A. Sanford said in a statement released Monday.
The statement did not say whether the clothes belonged to Prescott Wright, 23, of Barnstable, Mass., or Zachary Wells, 21, of Burlington, Vt. The men were last seen at Wells’ residence, an antique Cape house situated near marshes and a sheltered bay at 5 Mills Road in Kennebunkport.
The Maine Marine Patrol, which found the clothes, Maine Warden Service, and the Kennebunkport Police Department are continuing their search for the two men. Searchers had never overlooked the possibility that the two men went into the water before their disappearance, Sanford said.
The house is close to Sampson Cove, and there’s a pier down the road, said Sara Willicka of the Cape Porpoise Kitchen, also on Mills Road, where Wright has dropped in occasionally for sandwiches.
Friends told police that Wright and Wells were part of a small gathering of friends Thursday drinking beer and possibly other liquor, Sanford said. They may have been intoxicated, but it was not like “an outrageous frat party,” he said.
Somebody noticed that the men were missing around 4 a.m., Sanford said.
According to a report by WCVB, only one of the men had a vehicle, which was still in the driveway.
After Landing School officials notified authorities Friday that the men had not been in class for two days, police and other searchers looked for them at roadsides, in marshes and in tidal markers along the coastline, Sanford said.
He said family and friends of the two men have arrived from their hometowns and possibly are hiring a private investigator.
“They are desperate parents,” Sanford said.
Wright’s parents live in Cummaquid and Barnstable.
A Coast Guard helicopter searched the nearby waters, and a Maine Warden Service plane joined the effort Sunday, he said.
The seas had been too rough for the Maine Marine Patrol to launch a boat, but one is out Monday, Sanford said.
The disappearance of the two young men has rattled the Landing School, whose total enrollment is 70 students with an average age of 27, school President Robert DeColfmacker said in a phone interview.
Wright has been studying yacht design, while Wells has been taking courses on marine systems, he said.
“It’s a close group of friends and classmates,” DeColfmacker said. “We’re all very concerned. We’re very worried about their welfare.”
Photos of Wright on his Facebook page indicate his love of the sea, showing him on boats and, in one shot, holding two live lobsters.
Friday was the last day of classes before the Christmas break, DeColfmacker said. He said he hopes when students return, it will be to good news about Wright and Wells.
“Both of them are outgoing, friendly students,” he said.
Wright is described as 6 feet, 4 inches tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and weighing about 200 pounds.
Wells is described as 5 feet, 8 inches, with black hair and hazel eyes. He weighs about 150 pounds.
Anyone with information about the men should call Kennebunkport police at 967-2454.
Information from the Cape Cod Times was included in this report.
Not a good sign. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family’s.
This sounds like many other disappearances. Drinking, late, near water.
this article really tell a person a lot…NOT
The BDN is pretty bush league, but in this case, I’d say they’ve told about all there is to tell. Unless you know something more.
Bush league!!?? Seriously. U wouldn’t know journalism if it hit u on the head.
You’re funny! Merry Christmas!
Leave pure bred mutt alone! He is the reader, the consumer of media that is the #1 consumer of goods and services here in this great land of ours! This is why I’d like to see less college-educated-overwrrought-thinkers writing the news, and more people with roll-up-your-sleeves-real-world experience and real-world opinions covering the news! Rah rah relatability!
I have to believe they are combing the islands and camps to see if the guys might be found, I am so sorry for the family, what they are going through, I keep checking for new news, hoping for a positive outcome. I got a son, just a little older, makes you think.
I’ve got a son a bit younger who just came home from college for Christmas. Can’t imagine what their folks are going through. I went to the Landing School myself back in the mid 80’s and know what a tight community it is. Really praying for a good outcome.
Thoughts and prayers to the families and friends. A horrible thing to deal with at any time, let alone during the holidays. I pray they are both found soon.
Starting to sound like the midnight swim, and that ain’t a great idea in Dec in Maine.
Hope they;re found…
This doesn’t sound very good…..I hope this ends up with everyone safe…..
This is just a guess, but one of them decided to go for a swim (hence the clothes) and then got into trouble and the other jumped in to save him and they both… so sad.. really really sad.
One of the final steps of hypothermia is over heating and removing your clothes.
Decided to go for a swim?!! In December. Glad ur not a cop
been with drunks much? I remember one guy jumping in the Aroostook River, from the bridge in Ashland, just after ice break up.
My guess too….ah the foolish things we do that nearly all of us have escaped, sparing our family the grieving and loss.
The Ocean off of Harpswell was so flat and placid yesterday; who’d think it could be so unforgiving as we quietly walked along the beach at Potts Point?
” They may have been intoxicated but it was not like an outrageous frat party ” ……………08 bac is intoxicated, doesn’t matter where it happens so if these boys were intoxicated it was just like those intoxicated at frat parties ! I feel for the famlies either way !
The family of these young men are likely to this.