BALTIMORE — Police have identified the man found dead in a Maryland river near Phylicia Barnes’ body as 53-year-old Darryl Harper from Richmond, Va.
No connection has been found between Harper and Barnes, Maryland State Police said.
Barnes, who lived in Monroe, disappeared in late December while visiting relatives in Baltimore. Her body was recovered last week from the Susquehanna River south of the Conowingo Dam.
Harper’s body was found about three miles upriver from Barnes’ body on the same day. The cause and manner of his death have not yet been identified, police said.
Investigators identified Harper by matching his fingerprints to prints entered in the National Crime Information Center database for missing persons.
Harper’s wife reported him missing on April 15. She told investigators she and her husband had lived in Cheektowaga, N.Y. until November 2009, when they moved to an apartment in Cockeysville, Md. They lived there until February, when they moved to Richmond.
Harper's wife told investigators her husband left Richmond in early March to pick up things from their former apartment in Cockeysville. She said she received a call from her husband in mid-March and that was the last time she talked with him.
Harper’s wife also told investigators that a relative in the Harrisburg, Pa. area had called to tell her Darryl Harper had checked himself into a hospital in East Penn, Pa., on the Susquehanna River, on March 25. He wanted help with mental health issues, the relative said.
Investigators said Harper stayed in that hospital one night.
His wife told investigators that he told a relative in March he was going to jump off a bridge. She also said her husband had attempted suicide in 2006.
Investigators have not found anything that connects Harper to Barnes, but said they are continuing to review information.