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November 29, 2010

02/20/10: Eugene Losik, 25, Boston, MA

Eugene Losik
 Update 11/29/10: It is with deep sadness that I must report that a body found earlier this month in Boston Harbor was been identified as Gene Losik. The medical examiner was not able to determine a cause and manner of death.

Gene's body was recovered from Rowe's Wharf on Nov. 8.

According to the family's official Web site, a "Celebration of Life service will be held December 3, 2010, from 4-7 pm, at the Indian Ridge Country Club, 73 Lovejoy Road, Andover, MA." A virtual memorial has also been created for Gene.

I will continue updating you with more information, if it becomes known, but please keep Gene and his loved ones in your thoughts and prayers.

Gene's Story
Eugene "Gene" Losik, 25, of Lawrence, was last seen in the early morning hours of Saturday, Feb. 20 near the Marriot Long Wharf at 296 State St. in Boston. At 2:24 a.m., Losik was spotted on camera stepping out through the back door of the hotel. He has not been seen since.

Gene Losik had gone to the city to celebrate a friend's birthday at Sissy K's Bar in Faneuil Hall. They spent the evening drinking and dancing. At around midnight, Losik, his girlfriend of four years, Caitlin McGovern, and some friends went back to the Marriot Long Wharf where they were staying. McGovern turned in for the night, while Losik decided to stay up with friends. McGovern said that Losik did not seem overly intoxicated when she went to bed at midnight. Keilty, who saw him two hours later, agreed. He reported that he was in quite alert, speaking clearly, and in good spirits. "There was nothing out of the ordinary. If he had been too intoxicated I wouldn't have left him."

One friend, Rick Keilty, told police that the two men went for a walk. The family's website indicates that Losik and Keilty were seen on surveillance cameras returning to the hotel at about 1:15 a.m. They then played cards in another friend's room. It has been reported that Losik had his wallet, cell phone and keys. At about 2:10 a.m., Keilty left to take a cab home.

At 2:24 a.m., Losik was seen on camera leaving the hotel through the back entrance without his coat or hat. See map. Friends believe he may have been stepping outside for a cigarette when he wandered off.  "The back entrance puts you into Christopher Columbus Park," McGovern said, "near Tia's restaurant. But there are tons of people going in and out of the hotel until 4 a.m. If something had happened there, someone would have seen him."

McGovern said that her boyfriend's cell phone had run out of charge and he only had about $20 in his wallet. He was also not familiar with the area.

Losik's girlfriend noticed he had not returned when she woke up at 6 a.m. Saturday and filed a missing persons report at about 11:30 a.m. Phone calls to his cellphone have gone unanswered, she told police. She is hoping that he simply got locked out of the hotel or maybe took the train back to Lawrence. A friend is staying in the couple's apartment in case Losik shows up."I don't know what happened," said a teary and emotional McGovern in an interview with The Eagle-Tribune last night. She said she sort of hopes he is in an area hospital, perhaps suffering from memory loss or lying unconscious in a hospital bed, where staff may not know his identity.  

About Gene Losik
Losik is described as "extremely bright, very rational and very resourceful" and "had no enemies at all." He is a graduate of UMass-Amherst works as an electrical engineer at Raytheon in Andover and was up for a promotion. He is a 2003 graduate of North Andover High School. He lives with Catlin McGovern, his girlfriend of four years, in the Washington Mills apartment complex on Canal Street in Lawrence. Losik had told his father he planned to marry McGovern in the next year.

The Search for Gene Losik
While the police are treating it as a missing persons' case, a Boston police dive team initially searched the waters around the hotel. They found no indication he might be there.

A large scale search was conducted on March 2 that included over 50 divers, search boats, sonar equipment, underwater cameras, and helicopters. The search turned up no trace of Gene or any evidence that he was ever in the water.
On March 4, it was reported to the media that Losik's sent was found near the water. According to the dog handler, "Clothing belonging to Gene were given to the handler. Scent pads were made from gauze pads placed inside of Gene's clothing, which later were used as Gene's scent articles for my K9. Later, at the door where Gene exited the hotel, the K9 was given Gene's scent article. The K9 immediately took trail and went from the back door of the hotel, onto the large docks and to one small dock, where the K9 indicated that the person had gone into the water. After this LIVE SCENT trail ended, the K9 was changed to work 'cadaver' and an alert was given right there, as well as multiple places leading outward towards the bay. This entire process was repeated multiple times (7 times), with the exact same results, even when the K9 worked the entire trailing and cadaver process(es) off lead."

The family has created a website, http://www.findgenelosik.com/ which will be posting updates on the search effort and had offered a $12,000 reward in his disappearance.


Quick Facts
Name/age: Eugene Losik, 25
Physical description: white male, 5 feet 11 inches tall with a muscular build, close-shaved blond hair, and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a grey T-shirt, blue jeans, and black dress shoes. Very early reports also mentioned that he was wearing a black mid-length jacket, but this seems to have been ruled out by surveillance tapes and witness statements.
Residence: Washington Mills apartment complex, Canal Street in Lawrence, MA.
Last seen: 2/20/10, Marriot Long Wharf at 296 State St. in Boston at 2:24 a.m.
Recovered: 11/8/10, Boston Harbor near Rowe's Wharf
Investigating Agency: 1-617-343-4248
Family Web site: http://www.findgenelosik.com/
Originally posted 02/20/10. Updated 11/29/10.

29 comments:

  1. The Boston Marriott Long Wharf is 1.1 miles from the TD Northbank Garden where William Hurley went missing and was later found drowned.
    The distance between the two places is actually less than a mile if traveled on foot.

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  2. Just wanted to add that the family believes Losik was stepping out for a ciggerette when he disappeared.

    Also, the family has put up a $10,000 reward for info leading to his recovery.

    Emotional plea for help in search for Losik (w/ video)
    http://tinyurl.com/ylkvdgf

    Missing Lawrence man's family offers reward for safe return
    http://tinyurl.com/ykxl6ys

    My personal opinion is that this guy either left or ran off on his own, was tricked into leaving with someone, or he was abducted.

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  3. Also forgot to add that in one of the stories I read, the Father does not believe his son's disappearance had anything to do with his work. Losik was employed as an engineer at Raytheon.

    www.raytheon.com

    What I would like to see done is to list what each of theese guys jobs was, if they were employeed.

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  4. Okay, I'm now thinking that he either left on his own or he willingly left with another individual(s). It would be too suspicious for someone to actually physically abduct him as this would draw the attention of potential witnesses.

    I think people should be willing to consider whether or not Losik might himself have planned this whole thing or else had a plan in mind that he was at least keeping secret from his friends/family.

    If this was planned in advanced then the fact that he left w/out his coat would indicate that a vehicle is involved, as I'm relatively sure it would have been cld that night.

    Despite what his father believes, I would not rule out any connections to his work.

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  5. I know some of the seniors had recently had job interviews and had just landed a job. The report doesn't usually say where they were offered a job. Some of the older men do have their places of employment revealed.

    In Gene's case I could see him going to have a cigarette and while doing so, walking around and exploring. The area was new to him. And there was action outside the hotel until 4 a.m. maybe giving him a sense of adventure and safety to walk around and check things out. He may have wandered to the water.

    The problem is that I can't help but to notice William Hurley went missing less than a mile away as he waited for his girlfriend to pick him up. William's story had some real oddities about it.

    It could be a total coincidence these men went missing so close to one another yet it does slightly change my perspective. Makes me wonder if there is some shady person who works or hangs out in that area.

    Hopefully, he will show up soon and the reward money will get someone to talk.

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  6. Why do you feel so strongly about his work? Are you thinking he took off with a co-worker?

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  7. @ Monique777

    I don't feel strongly about it, but rather just pointing out that it's too early to discount it at this time.

    Now, what is not stated in the info in the article is whether or not he had been fighting with his girlfriend. I would be interested in finding that out, as it would give us info on his mood at the time of his disappearance.

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  8. A little clarification: some initial news reports seemed to indicate that Gene Losik went dancing, went to the hotel, took a walk and played cards with friend Rick Keilty, and then went out AGAIN to meet up with another friend (who last saw him standing in front of the hotel.) It now seems that this was an error, and these reports may have been referring to Mr. Keilty.

    The family's official website mentions nothing about meeting someone after seeing Keilty. It states that after playing cards, Losik probably went outside to have a cigarette. I have corrected the post accordingly.

    I'll keep you posted as I learn more.

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  9. I can't shake this feeling that there's more to this case, something we aren't being told.

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  10. On the new website for Gene, www.findgenelosik.com, it says divers searched the water surrounding the hotel for 3 days to no avail. Divers will be searchig the water again this weekend, weather permitting.

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  11. Either Gene's friend or girlfriend says, the water was searched "although I firmly believe he's on land somewhere at this point."

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  12. Gene wouldn't be exploring the neighborhood while not wearing his coat. It's very cold there and the video shows him wearing only a a shirt while walking out the back door.

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  13. Nothing has been updated on this recently. Does anyone know what is going on? The fact that the dogs headed to the water...is there any chance he left with someone willingly by boat? He seems like a strong athletic guy, not the kind of person easily abducted. Any chance he was leaving with another woman, and left on his own? Maybe he had it planned. He wouldn't want to use the same cell phone in that case - he would just get another one. He may have had another bank account separate from the one with his girlfriend...any chance he withdrew any large sum of money before that weekend? What was it like at work, was he close to getting laid off, so the job really didn't matter anymore to him? It seems like so many angles are being missed, because everyone is immediately convinced his was abducted.

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  14. @katedder,

    You raise some good questions; and I think these are things police look at when someone goes missing.

    It seems that there isn't any reason to suspect that Gene would walk away from his life. He was devoted to his family, friends and his girlfriend, whom he had plans to marry her. He also worked as an engineer---a profession that typically pays well and is in high demand. Work must have been going well because he was up for a promotion--despite the poor economy. He was working at Raytheon--a very large, solid, and well-respected company that provides defense technology, aerospace innovations, homeland and border security, and cybersecurity. Definitely the type of company that could land you another job in the future.

    Gene left the hotel without his coat (in February) and just $20 in his wallet. This seems to suggest that he had planned to come back.

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  15. You can check for updates at the search website at http://www.findgenelosik.com.

    On the site, the family reports the following known facts:

    "There has been no ATM card activity since his disappearance. Friends were unable to reach him on his phone the morning of the 20th, with calls going directly to voicemail. Phone company was unable to ping the phone, meaning the battery is completely dead or the phone is broken. The only outgoing calls were to friends, with the last at 1:18am. The only incoming calls were from friends whom he was with.

    Sea Search
    BPD Divers were in the water Sunday Feb 21 - Tuesday Feb 23, 5 hours per day, and found nothing. BPD, BFD, State Police, and the Coast Guard were diving and using boats on Saturday Feb 27 with special sonar equipment, and were unable to turn up anything. March 2Police from Boston, Quincy, and Everett, along with Coast Guard, BFD, and State Police, search the water with 50 divers, sonar, underwater cameras, boats, search dogs, and helicopters and didn't find any evidence of someone entering the water.

    Land Search
    About 40 officers helped to search the immediate area of the Wharf, North End, and Faneuil on Sunday the 21st. Cab GPS data is being investigated to see if cabs were heading to areas Gene might want to go. Over 45 area hospitals have been notified and flyers distributed to their staff."

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  16. raytheon eh? think about it? where did the airplanes that were used on 9/11 come from? where is gene missing from? what kind of engineer was gene @ raytheon where they study defense technology, aerospace innovations, homeland and border security, and cybersecurity. Kidnapped by Jihad for some sick sick reason is my thought.

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  17. A body was found in the Charles River over the weekend but Zhanna Losik (presumably) posted a comment to the news article saying that the Boston PD confirmed that it WAS NOT Gene.

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  18. @ BoyintheMachine ...

    I would also like to know if Gene and his girlfriend Caitlin had gotten into an arguement. As you said, it has never been mentioned. To add to that, it seems as if Caitlin has been silent for months.

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  19. I see that Gene's parents are on Issues with Jane V. Mitchell tonight. It is great that they are getting some national media coverage after all this time.

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  20. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  21. Gene's body was found on Nov 8 and only recently identified:

    http://www.necn.com/11/29/10/Body-of-missing-Lawrence-man-found-in-Bo/landing_newengland.html?blockID=362503&feedID=4206

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  22. My prayers are with Gene's family, girlfriend and all of those that loved Gene. This is such a sad outcome to Gene going missing.

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  23. His wallet is missing. Strange. Stranger still why nobody found his body until recently. I know it may take some time before a body surfaces but I'm suprised it didn't happen earlier, especially in the spring or summer. I wonder if they were able to tell if the body had been in the water all this time.

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  24. I have been following Footprints for a while and decided this evening, after reading about the confirmation of Gene Losik's death, that I would sign up and try to do my part so no other parent has to face what Gene's parents are facing.

    My deepest condolences to the Losik family, I hope they can find out what happened. It just doesn't make sense to me...

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  25. BITM

    Where did you find his wallet was missing?

    Webwizar,

    I am glad you have posted. Welcome. Many of us feel the same way- we just want to help in some/ any way we can to spare another life and raise awareness.

    I am really bothered it took them so long to find Gene's body. I find this troubling because the search was so intense and the scent/cadaver dog lead them to a small area on one of the small piers many times. With all of the divers and sonar, how did he remain out of sight. I know the water is dark, but they found Willis and Hurley shortly after they went missing. They also find boaters that have drowned in the harbor very quickly. So, this is troubling to me.

    RIP Gene

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  26. Monique, thank you so much for the warm welcome!

    I am also concerned about the amount of time it took to find Gene, it seems far too long considering the intensiveness of the search and 8 months seems inordinately long, especially considering many of those months were warm.

    It also bothers me that the coroner cannot find a cause of death - really? Is that possible?

    Thanks again for welcoming a newbie and for letting me ask newbie questions :-)

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  27. Not only am I struck by how long it took for Gene's body to be found (and the fact that it surfaced during the colder months-- NOT in springtime as is often the case), but I'm struck at the parallel timing of the Gene Losik AND Gerry Manley disappearances Not only did Gene Losik and Gerry Manley both disappear without a trace earlier this year (Jan/Feb), but the both were found earlier this month, and they were both identified within days of each other. On disappeared in Boston, one in Pennsylvania. Easily within a day's drive of each other. That would be one hell of a coincidence…..

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  28. @ Monique777

    I just googled a newstory about Losik's body being discovered and it mentioned he was found without his wallet.

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