Body of missing Beechview man found in Ohio River

The body of a Beechview man missing since late January was found Thursday night in the Ohio River, authorities said.

Thomas Hughes, 25, was found in the river near Monaca, according to Pittsburgh police. The Beaver County Medical Examiner’s Office will perform an autopsy and determine a cause and manner of death.

Hughes was last seen around 11 p.m. on Jan. 23 after he left his parents’ home.

His car, a 2012 silver Volkswagen Routan, found the next day near the South Side Riverfront Trail, police said. The vehicle was unlocked, and the keys were in the ignition, Tribune-Review news partner WPXI-TV reported.

Authorities searched the trail and park area several times, deploying River Rescue, bicycle and foot patrols and a drone.

Police had also released security footage from a gas station that captured Hughes the night he was last seen. Police did not say which gas station the footage was from.

The footage, less than 10 seconds long, shows Hughes walking through the glass doors of the gas station and looking around. He was wearing a baseball cap in the footage.

Hughes family previously told WPXI that when he didn’t return home after leaving his parents’ home Jan. 23 and wouldn’t answer his phone, they knew something was wrong.

“It’s something that’s completely unlike him,” his sister Alexis Hughes told the TV station in January. “He’s never done this before. I’m worried sick.”

UPDATE 2:

The body of Thomas Hughes was recovered from the Ohio River in Monaca on April 15, 2021.

The Beaver County Medical Examiner’s Office will determine the cause and manner of death. https://t.co/T6QfUCZ7a7

— Pgh Public Safety (@PghPublicSafety) April 16, 2021