On the evening of June 21st, visitors heading out for a bike ride from the Monocacy Aqueduct parking lot saw a vehicle parked there with its engine running. When they came back two hours later, it was still there, with its engine still running, so they notified the Frederick County (Maryland) Sheriff’s Office. Deputies subsequently notified the regional communication center, and rangers were sent to the scene. The vehicle was identified as one belonging to a missing 21-year-old man from Rockville. Rangers searched the vehicle and discovered a box of shotgun shells with two missing. The father, who also arrived on scene, told rangers that his son had recently been discharged from the military for medical reasons and that he believed that he might have come to the park to hurt himself. Rangers conducted a hasty search of the area through the remainder of the night, but were unable to find him. The search resumed the following morning at 7 a.m. Rangers, assisted by the park’s search dog, tracked and located the missing man’s body in a heavily wooded area about 50 yards from his vehicle. He evidently shot himself. Rangers, Park Police and Montgomery County deputies are investigating.
