Teresa Wells said authorities have confirmed that the body found near the river in Springfield was her brother, 33-year-old Shawn Dunson, who had been missing for three weeks.
Shawn Dunson
SPRINGFIELD — A sister of Shawn Dunson confirmed that the body found Friday along the banks of the Connecticut River in Springfield was Dunson, a cook at Chef Wayne's Big Mamou restaurant who had been missing since Feb. 3.
"Right now, he's in Boston," Teresa Wells said Sunday, referring to the body of her 33-year-old brother. "They're treating it as a homicide."
That information could not immediately be verified with the Springfield Police Department. A commanding officer and a detective were unable to confirm if foul play is suspected in Dunson's death. If ruled a homicide, it would be the city's sixth this year.
"This is not somebody who upped and disappeared," Wells said of her brother, who lived in West Springfield and adored his twin 7-year-old girls. "Shawn lives for those girls. He's a daddy. He doesn't just give them bowls of cereal for breakfast, he makes them breakfast," she said.
Wells said Dunson's body is expected to be returned at some point later this week, following an autopsy by the Medical Examiner's office to determine a cause of death. Services have yet to be arranged, she said.
Springfield firefighters recover the body of a man from the bank of the Connecticut River near the South End bridge on Friday afternoon.
Dennis G. Leger, a spokesman for Springfield Fire Commissioner Joseph A. Conant, said the body was found just after 2:30 p.m. Friday along an isolated stretch of river roughly 600 yards south of the Julia Buxton Bridge, commonly called the South End bridge.
Wells said she and other family members plan to keep pressure on authorities to find out what happened to Dunson. "I won't stop," she said Sunday, choking back tears.
Dunson was last seen late Feb. 3 as he left McCaffrey's Pub near the corner of Main and State streets in downtown Springfield.
Members of Dunson's large, close-knit family say they suspect something bad happened to him, since it would be totally out of character for the responsible family man to just disappear without a trace. "It's very, very unusual," said Armando Weathers, one of Dunson's brothers. "This is the first time in his life that he has been somewhere and we don't know where he is."
Malik Andrade, another brother, said Dunson's two young daughters, Annjalease Ruby and Chanel Rose, have inquired about their father every day since he failed to return home. "They keep asking for him every day," he said.
On Thursday, a group of family and friends searched Springfield's Riverfront Park for signs of Dunson, who worked in Springfield for many years. Wells said searches have been conducted nearly every day since Dunson failed to show up for a shift at Big Mamou.
Colleagues at the Liberty Street restaurant were equally upset by Dunson's disappearance. "We are family here," Nikki Allen, a waitress at Big Mamou, said, describing Dunson as a "great, caring person" who was extremely reliable. "When something like this happens to someone that you care for, it's a real eye-opener," she said.
"It's Shawn ... I can't breathe ... so sick right now," states a message posted on the Facebook page family members created for Dunson. The entry is followed by numerous condolences and prayers.
Police have asked anyone with information about the case to call the commissioner's office at (413) 787-6313 or the detective bureau at (413) 787-6355.