Searchers canvassing the Hudson River for missing kayaker Ian Jones found a male body matching his description around noon on Monday. Jones, 32, the boyfriend of singer Annie Lennox’s daughter, Tali Lennox Fruchtmann, has been missing since the couple’s kayak capsized Saturday in Dutchess County in upstate New York.
“While there is a strong possibility that the body recovered is that of Mr. Jones, it remains only a possibility at this time,” Capt. John Watterson of the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release. “Further information will be released once the autopsy is completed and official identification made, and at this time the search for Mr. Jones has been suspended until further notice.”
Fruchtmann, the model-turned-artist who goes by Tali Lennox, and Jones were not wearing life preservers when they fell into the water and were separated, Watterson said.
A passing vessel rescued Fruchtmann, 22.
The Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call reporting Jones missing around 9:50 a.m. Saturday and began searching for him near Mills Mansion in the hamlet of Staatsburg, about 100 miles north of New York City. Searchers discovered the body on Monday near the close-by Poughkeepsie Yacht Club.
“Extensive resources” were utilized in the search, Watterson said in an earlier statement. Marine patrols and dive teams from the sheriff’s office and other agencies searched the river and the shore near where Jones was last seen. The entire area also was searched with the assistance of a New York State Police helicopter and numerous officers on foot and in boats.
At this point, the incident does not appear to be criminal in nature and no foul play is suspected, the earlier statement said.