Officials in Turks and Caicos are working to identify a decomposed body discovered on Saturday, July 5, and determine whether it belongs to Brian Tarrence, a New York City man who vanished while vacationing with his wife.
Tarrence, 51, of Manhattan, was last seen around 3:30 a.m. on June 25, captured on surveillance video leaving the Paradise Inn in Grace Bay, Providenciales, where he had been staying with his wife, Maria. The couple had arrived on the island just days earlier to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.
More than a week later, on July 5 at 9:06 a.m., the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force (RTCIPF) announced the discovery of an unidentified male body in an advanced state of decomposition in the Grace Bay area.
Private investigator Carl DeFazio, who has been assisting in the search, told PEOPLE the condition of the remains has made it difficult to confirm the identity.
“The body was out there for 10 days in over 90-degree heat,” DeFazio said. “That makes identification tough. You can’t rely on clothing or accessories alone—anyone can be wearing a pair of sneakers or a watch.”
The body was found in a ditch “in the bush” about a 20-minute walk from where Tarrence was last seen—just a block off Leeward Highway in a mixed residential-commercial area.
Search crews had divided into six quadrants to comb through the region. DeFazio said investigators believe Tarrence may have been walking toward the downtown area and possibly took a turn at the nearby Ritz-Carlton roundabout.
The investigation has been slow-going due to the need to review extensive surveillance footage from numerous cameras in the area.
“It’s not like TV where everything’s done in an hour,” DeFazio said. “You could spend hours on footage from the wrong camera. There are hundreds.”
Surveillance video showed Tarrence walking alone, holding his phone and carrying his wallet. Since his disappearance, there have been no phone calls made and no activity on his credit cards, DeFazio confirmed.
He described the trip as starting out completely normal. “They had dinner, took a boat trip—it was a typical vacation,” he said. That’s what makes Tarrence leaving the hotel alone in the early morning so unusual. “It’s bizarre,” DeFazio added. “His wife was asleep. He just walked out.”
The RTCIPF continues to investigate and urges anyone with information to contact local police or reach out anonymously via Crime Stoppers at 1-800-8477 (TIPS) or through the P3 mobile app.
Tarrence’s family has not yet commented on the recent discovery.
