Villanova man, missing since December, found dead in Schuylkill, police say
Geoffrey Partridge had been missing since his SUV was discovered, abandoned, near the river in December.
Geoffrey Partridge, 36, was found dead in the Schuylkill late Thursday, almost exactly four months after his SUV was found abandoned on one of the river’s banks.
A fisherman discovered Partridge’s body about 6:30 p.m. along River Road near Hollow Road in Gladwyne, according to Tom Walsh, a spokesperson for Lower Merion Township. Officers from the township police department recovered the body with the help of Philadelphia police. Partridge was identified early Friday by the Montgomery County coroner.
Partridge’s cause of death was ruled to be drowning, and its manner was ruled to be suicide, according to a spokesperson for the Coroner’s Office.
Holly Morrison, Partridge’s mother, said Friday that her “heart is broken” and that she and her family were struggling to process the news. Morrison and her neighbors in Gladwyne had spent weeks searching the river and its surrounding areas, some organizing pre-dawn boat trips.
Partridge vanished after leaving his home to run errands, telling his wife, Jill Turanski, that he would be back shortly. Instead, all communication with Partridge suddenly ceased, and a passerby spotted his Jeep Grand Cherokee partially submerged in the river near Flat Rock Park. Inside, officers found his cell phone and the keys to the vehicle.
In a December interview, Turanski said Partridge suffered from bipolar depression and Lyme disease, which often left him weak and exhausted. But she said the last few months of their 15-year relationship had been bright, with Partridge feeling more energetic and social.