The search for missing Bridesburg resident Joe “Babe” McGeehan came to a sorrowful end on Sunday when a volunteer search crew pulled his body from the Delaware River ear where his Jeep was found two weeks ago.
According to Stephanie Maude, a cousin of McGeehan’s who helped coordinate a search for the missing man, his body was found just feet from where his 2007 black Jeep Liberty was pulled from the river near Unruh Avenue in the Northeast on Jan. 10.
She said that through working with the Garden State Underwater Recovery Unit, a volunteer group, search teams were able to recover McGeehan’s body.
Those latest efforts began on Sunday, Jan. 22, at about 7:25 a.m., Maude said.
About an hour later, the team recovered the 31-year-old man’s body.
“We went out and they just dove in,” she said. “Within an hour, they had him.”
Maude expressed frustration with the search efforts of the Philadelphia olice, saying that the volunteer unit was able to do what the police were not.
“I can never express how grateful I am to the Garden State Underwater Recovery Unit,” she said.
The water temperature was only 23 degrees, she said, noting that the volunteer team “went above and beyond.”
McGeehan, who lived with his sister near Harbison and Torresdale avenues, was last seen after he left Calloway’s Irish Inn at Cottman Avenue and Rowland Street, driving eastbound toward Frankford Avenue.
McGeehan reportedly was heading to the Wissinoming Yacht Club, at 5100 Devereaux St., to meet friends. He never arrived.
His vehicle was found submerged in about 19 feet of water and had front-end damage, including a smashed windshield and missing headlights and bumper.
McGeehan’s body was released to the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office. The office had yet to return calls from the Star to learn whether investigators had determined the cause of McGeehan’s death.
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Services for Joseph “Babe” McGeehan will be held on Thursday, Jan. 26, at the McCafferty Funeral Home, 6711 Frankford Ave. Friends may call from 8:30 to 11 a.m. Burial will be in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.
McGeehan is survived by his parents, John and Helen Anne; two brothers, John Paul and Michael; and six sisters, Stacey, Joanann, Angel, Debbie, Melissa and Anna. ••
Reporter Hayden Mitman can be reached at 215–354–3124 or hmitman@bsmphilly.com
