AVON, Mass. – A Massachusetts man who has been missing since the first week of September was found dead in a well on his property over the weekend. Now there is a lot of finger pointing going on as to who is to blame for failing to find him sooner.
Keith McKechnie, 45, was last seen Sept. 7. His body was discovered by a family friend inside a well near his home in Avon on Saturday, CBS News Boston reported.
“They had like a fishing line, and they had a, must have been a water camera or something,” McKechnie’s mother, Karyll McKechnie, told the outlet, referring to those who found her son. “They took pictures, and they said, ‘Something’s down there.’“
As a result, rescue workers were tasked with extracting the body from the well, efforts that were documented by local news footage.
Rescue crews were called to remove McKechnie’s body from the well. (NBC Boston)
Once the body was recovered, authorities said there were no obvious signs of trauma. A subsequent autopsy revealed no signs of foul play, CBS News reported.
Still stunned, Karyll said, “I couldn’t believe it,” regarding the recovery of her son’s body so close to home and clearly in the area that was searched.
The grieving mother first reported her son missing shortly after he was last seen Sept. 7.
“He left his driver’s license and his Medicare card and everything. And I checked his bank account every week to see if he was taking money out of it, and he wasn’t,” she said.
Authorities said there were no obvious signs of foul play. (NBC Boston)
Relatives of McKechnie said they asked law enforcement authorities to check the well several times, the New York Post reported.
“The family made several calls as well as in person and asked them that the well needed to be looked at,” his cousin, Christine Connolly, told NBC10 Boston.
“[Keith’s] glasses were found by the well on the ground. We were told that they had determined due to the size of the well and Keith’s build, he wouldn’t fit,” she said.
McKechnie’s brother, Adam, texted the news outlet, “I told them he was a large size, and if his body was being concealed, the most likely place to find him would be in the well by the side of the garage where he stays.”
Avon Police Chief Jeffrey Bukunt told CBS Boston that officers searched the vicinity of the well and even had a K9 in the area that did not alert to his scent.
As a result, the chief said investigators moved on to other leads, such as reports that McKechnie was seen at a local homeless shelter, which proved negative.
Though he struggled with mental illness, McKechnie’s family remembered him as a kind, light-hearted person.
Due to mental illness issues, family cautioned police that McKechnie might be “resistant to being approached” when they first reported him missing, the Boston Herald reported.
The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office is leading the probe in McKechnie’s death. DA Michael Morrissey offered condolences to the family shortly after the body was recovered.
“Our thoughts are very much with the McKechnie family tonight. This is a very sad result,” Morrissey said Saturday, according to the Boston Herald.
“Keith was my baby, and he was so good. He drove me around. He cooked me dinner every night,” Karyll McKechnie said. “I couldn’t believe that they didn’t do more.”
The Avon Police Department did not disclose further information or immediately respond to a request for comment from the New York Post.
