Teen's body found in bay

A body found floating near the northern tip of Kent Island Thursday morning has been identified as Emily Rose LeClare, a 17-year-old Severna Park High School student believed to have jumped from the Bay Bridge in December, Maryland Transportation Authority Police said.

Just before 9:30 a.m. police got a call from a boater who discovered the girl's body in the water, between Rock Hall and Love Point, said Sgt. Ken Turner, a Maryland Natural Resources Police spokesman.

Police "had a good idea" the body was the teenager and called Transportation Authority Police, who took the body to shore and later sent it to the state Medical Examiner's Office in Baltimore for identification, he said. Police received positive identification yesterday.

On Dec. 18, police found an abandoned car in the westbound lane of the eastern span just after midnight while the bridge was in two-way traffic, but a spokesman wouldn't comment further. County Fire Department officials said it was believed to be a suicide, and the Coast Guard was sent out to search for a female in the water.

Maryland State Police helicopters and first responders from Queen Anne's County also assisted in the search.

The coast guard searched for 31/2 hours but did not find a body. The water temperature was 42 degrees and a person could only survive, police said, for about 90 minutes in those conditions.

Word quickly spread throughout the Severna Park community that Emily had jumped to her death. A few days later, hundreds of teenagers and adults packed into Woods Memorial Presbyterian church on Baltimore Annapolis Boulevard for a prayer vigil for the teen. Church leaders said the family would not hold a memorial until they found Emily.

The teen would have graduated from high school this year.