BOSTON (AP) – A body found floating in the Charles River was identified Tuesday as John Daverio, a Boston University professor whose disappearance a month ago baffled investigators and the university community.
Daverio, whose body was found Monday by the BU rowing team, had drowned, said Emily LaGrassa, a spokeswoman for the Middlesex County district attorney’s office. She said Daverio was identified using dental records.
While an autopsy determined the cause of death was drowning, the circumstances of Daverio’s death were still unknown, LaGrassa said.
Boston Police Capt. William Evans said there were no signs of trauma to the body, and investigators did not suspect foul play. Evans said police were looking at the possibility that Daverio fell in the river by accident or committed suicide.
Daverio’s body was discovered by the crew team around 7:30 p.m. Monday, police said. It appeared he wearing the same clothes he had on the night of his disappearance, according to police.
Daverio, a Boston University School of Music professor, was last seen on March 16 around 8:40 p.m., heading out of the College of Fine Arts building where his office was located.
The BU Bridge, which spans the Charles River, is just a block from the building and police believe he walked in that direction.
A surveillance camera caught him leaving the building, carrying a white plastic bag with a rectangular object inside that police believe was a book.
The body was found just a short distance downstream from the bridge. The bag was not recovered.
Daverio had arrived at the school as a student 32 years ago and had spent the past 20 years on the faculty, university officials said. He was chairman of the department of musicology.
Daverio, 49, was one of the world’s leading scholars on the work of composer Robert Schumann. He recently published a book called “Crossing Paths: Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms,” which explored the link between art and life in the work of the three musicians.
University officials praised Daverio as a renowned scholar.
“He was a distinguished, provocative, fine, scintillating teacher,” said Andre de Quadros, Director of the School of Music at the College of Fine Arts.
College of Fine Arts Dean Walter Meissner said Daverio was a “truly remarkable human being” and the university community found the news of his death “shocking and devastating.”
Elizabeth Seitz, a fellow music professor who had been Daverio’s friend for 18 years, said Tuesday that he was “just the greatest guy, sweet, funny and intelligent and just always there” for his friends.
While officials have noted that Daverio was deeply concerned about his elderly and ailing parents, who live in Pennsylvania, Seitz rejected the theory that he may have committed suicide.
“There’s just no way. He was too involved with work. He had too many things going on. He was doing well. He was at the peak of his career. … He was always busy, had a million friends. And everyone universally respected and liked him.”
Nancy Ackerman of Concord, a former student, said, “He was probably my favorite professor of all in Boston University. He was an incredibly brilliant man. He was articulate. He was kind. He was fair and just a really nice person.”
Jane Fitzgerald of Rutland, also a friend and former student, said, “It’s a huge loss for a lot of people.”
Schumann, the composer Daverio had studied and written about extensively, attempted to kill himself by throwing himself in the Rhine in 1854. He died two years later.
BU Police Capt. Robert Molloy said investigators were aware of the coincidence, but didn’t think it played a role in Daverio’s disappearance.
Someone left a bouquet of flowers outside Daverio’s office in the College of Fine Arts building. A yellow ribbon was draped on the door with a handwritten message: “Return to Safety, Johnny D.”
Exactly what did happened to Daverio may never be known, Molloy said.
AP-ES-04-15-03 1753EDT
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