'It could be Brian.' Body found in Turks and Caicos may be missing New Yorker once from Monroe
Brian Tarrance vanished more than a week ago while vacationing with his wife.
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A body that could be of missing vacationer Brian Tarrance was discovered early Saturday morning in Turks and Caicos, bringing a heartbreaking development to the more than week-long search for the former Hudson Valley resident.
Tarrance, 51, who previously lived in Monroe and had recently relocated to Manhattan, vanished more than a week ago while vacationing with his wife. Surveillance video given to News 12 showed him leaving his Paradise Inn Airbnb around 3:30 a.m. on June 25. Additional footage from a second camera captured him walking near Leeward Highway at 4:05 a.m., roughly 30 minutes later.
Private investigator Carl DeFazio, who was hired by the family, says that new video helped narrow the search area, prompting an organized ground search Saturday morning with 16 to 20 people, including volunteers, police, and himself.
“We were armed with machetes, maps—we all had designated areas and we all split up and searched,” DeFazio said.
After nearly two and a half hours, DeFazio says one of the searchers noticed a sneaker in a wooded ditch in a mix of commercial and residential space. The private investigator confirmed the sneaker was attached to a body.
“It was very difficult to determine if it was Brian at the time,” he said. “We can’t make 100% identification due to items like sneakers or watches. Somebody else could be wearing those things.”
Turks and Caicos has experienced a rise in violent crime, recording one of the highest per-capita homicide rates in the region last year. However, investigators say there is no evidence of foul play in this case, and it remains a death investigation pending autopsy results.
“There’s no signs of blunt force, no signs of any criminal activity at all,” said DeFazio. “That may change once the autopsy and toxicology are done, but right now the coroner has the body.”
Tarrance’s family is awaiting official confirmation, and authorities have asked DeFazio to avoid sharing further details until identification is complete.
DeFazio shared that Tarrance was feeling emotionally unwell the night he disappeared and was having difficulty sleeping when he left his wife while she was asleep and went for a walk in the early morning hours.
Throughout the search, the local community was deeply involved in the police effort. “The people who live here—it’s a tight community and we take these things seriously,” DeFazio said. “Nonstop from day one we used drones; we went out on false alarms. We did a lot.”
The family remains devastated by the outcome, but thankful for their efforts to find Brian.
“They were very understanding, and they were very grateful for what we did,” DeFazio said. “It was just an outcome that we all feared, and it just came out.”
Island police say a second body was found in a ditch on another part of the island, hours after the search for Brian ended. That case is under investigation as a homicide.
In Tarrance’s case, an autopsy is pending, and authorities continue to investigate.
