WASHINGTON – Police have confirmed that the bodies pulled from the Potomac River Thursday were the remains of two missing boaters from Stafford County.
Charles Zintner, 58, and Melissa Smarr, 55, were reported missing late Wednesday night after they didn’t return to the Landmark Yacht Club. Their bodies were pulled from the river near where their boat was found the next day, says Candy Thomson with the Maryland Natural Resources Police.
Autopsies are planned for Friday but investigators say they saw no obvious trauma to the bodies and have uncovered nothing suspicious about their deaths so far.
Zintner’s body was found about 1,000 feet from the boat; he was not wearing a life jacket. Smarr was found upstream.
Thomson says the couple’s boat engine was not running when crews found the empty vessel anchored a mile from the yacht club. It appeared that the couple was getting ready to eat and the radio was on.
“We’re checking currents and other conditions. Weather may have been a factor so we’re looking into that. And little by little we’ll start ruling things out,” Thomson says.
Investigators have also visited the home of the couple, who had been together for about 20 years, in Stafford County in search of more clues and to put together a timeline of the couple’s last hours, she says.
The couple’s family arrived Thursday night and helped identify the bodies, Thompson says.
WTOP’s Megan Cloherty contributed to this report.
