Setauket body ID'd as man missing after February plane crash

ByMegan Ciampo WABC logo
Monday, April 11, 2016
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PORT JEFFERSON, Long Island (WABC) -- A body found on the Setauket Harbor beach Monday morning has been identified as Gerson Salmon-Negron, a 23-year-old from Queens who has been missing since plane crash in February.

Salmon-Negron, an Elmhurst resident, had been missing the small plane's engine lost power, forcing an emergency landing in the Setauket Harbor.

Gerson Salmon-Negron's Facebook page says he worked as a courier for FedEx and recently graduated from the City University of New York, where he studied Business Administration.

According to police, a student pilot was flying when the plane began experiencing difficulties. He then turned the controls over to the instructor pilot, who landed the plane in Setauket Harbor.

All four occupants were able to exit the plane into the water, but only three of them -- Austricio Ramirez, Nelson Gomez and Wady Perez -- were rescued by Suffolk County Police officers and transported to Stony Brook University Hospital.

The fourth, Salmon-Negron, remained missing.

In February, Salmon-Negron's family was too emotional to speak with Eyewitness News on camera, but told us they just wanted him to be found one way or another.