Body pulled from Lynn’s Flax Pond

LYNN – A Lynn man enjoying the weather with his two children at Flax Pond made a grim discovery Wednesday afternoon when he approached what he thought was a child’s toy, only to find that it was a body floating just a few feet away from the shore.A State Police Dive team spent the better part of an hour investigating the area near where the body was discovered before extracting the corpse of a fully clothed male shortly after 1 p.m.”I just came with my two kids to see the fish swimming and jumping, and I saw the body over there,” said Edgar Baez, who made the discovery. “At first I just saw something red, I thought it was a doll, I was going to go get it with a stick but then I saw that it was a body.”According to Lynn Police Capt. Mark O’Toole, the cause and time of death has yet to be determined of the unidentified male.”We can’t tell yet if there was foul play, but by the looks of the body, there didn’t appear to be any trauma signs,” he said. “We’ve also checked the missing persons’ database, but there isn’t a description that matches the body, so we’ll be asking if anyone saw someone in the water in recent days.”O’Toole said the body, which was not bloated and did not appear to be in the water for a long period of time, was extracted about 15 feet from the shore in a rather shallow section of the pond.While the investigation remains ongoing, O’Toole said a swimming accident is not a likely cause of death.A large crowd of onlookers let out gasps and groans as the deceased man, clothed in a red T-shirt, jeans and a pair of black Converse sneakers, was pulled to shore.According to witnesses, Lynn Police went to neighboring homes to see if anyone had gone missing, and searched the entire area of the pond, looking for clues into what happened leading up to the discovery.The exact age and identity of the male are not known, but O’Toole said the age range is a broad one between 20 and 50 years old.O’Toole said the pond has been the site of approximately five deaths in the past 10 years from drowning incidents.During the summer months, fishing and swimming are allowed at the pond and a lifeguard monitors the area.Lynn resident Maryann Richardt said she saw the man floating in the water from her office at Lynn Ladder & Scaffolding and quickly ran across the street to see what was going on.”I heard that a city worker found the body when he was mowing the lawn at about 10:30 a.m.,” she said. “I saw the diver pull up a jacket and he was looking for other evidence around the body. It just gives me the chills?I think there is something fishy about this.”