A Man Found a Dead Body Floating in His Backyard Pool. Police Believe it May Be a Missing 23-Year-Old Fugitive

The body found in a Long Island homeowner’s pool may belong to a fugitive from the law whom police have spent months searching for.

Suffolk County Police Department Commissioner Kevin Catalina said in a press conference that police believed the body found floating in a pool in East Shoreham, New York over Memorial Day weekend belonged to 23-year-old Matthew Zoll, who was wanted after allegedly killing his father in November 2024, according to WNBC, WABC and CBS News.

“We are currently waiting for a DNA analysis to confirm that, but, you know, based again on all of the ancillary evidence that we were able to uncover, we are investigating that strong possibility,” Catalina said, per CBS.

Police alleged in a November press conference that Matthew stabbed his father Joseph Zoll to death at his father’s Rocky Point, New York home on November 9. He then attempted to flee the scene in a SUV, but he crashed it near the East Shoreham home where the body was found, per WABC.

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Both East Shoreham and Rocky Point are located near each other in Shoreham, and police searched the area to try to find Matthew for several weeks. They were unable to locate him at the time, per the outlet.

“It was very strange … We all thought he just left town. Got on a train or a bus,” Sharon Healey, a neighbor of the homeowner who found the body, told WNBC.

Police said they are continuing their investigation into the incident while waiting on autopsy results from the county medical examiner to confirm the identity of the victim found in the pool and his means of death, per the outlet. 

The Suffolk County Police Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

The body was found floating in the pool of a veteran Suffolk County Police detective’s home on Sunday, May 25, sources told WABC. The man had reportedly been opening his swimming pool for the season before Memorial Day when he made the discovery and called 911.

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“It was a Loop-Loc cover, but it appears that one of the portions of the Loop-Loc was undone, and somehow the body became secreted under that portion of the pool cover,” Catalina said, per the outlet.

The man said, per WNBC, that a portion of the pool cover had been opened, but he did not notice anything wrong prior to opening it. Catalina added, per WABC, that there was no foul play suspected in the backyard of the home. 

“I don’t know why somebody would try to get under the cover. It’s not a smart thing to do,” the man’s neighbor Paul Gawreluk told WNBC. “I really wouldn’t be happy opening my pool to find that.”