The Fairfax County police officer who disappeared during a diving training exercise Tuesday is believed to be dead, police said Thursday as they continued to search for his body.
Second Lt. Frank Stecco, 43, was a volunteer role-player in a helicopter water rescue exercise in a Potomac River bay when he disappeared around 2:50 p.m. Tuesday. Extensive efforts from multiple agencies, including police from across the region, the Coast Guard and the FBI, have been unable to locate him.
Stecco, a 19-year veteran, was most recently assigned to the youth division.
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Until Thursday afternoon, police officials had believed the dry suit he was wearing could have prevented him from perishing in the cold water.
But, “based upon the passage of time, the searches completed and analysis of the incident and conditions,” Fairfax County Police Chief David Rohrer ordered the search to transition to a recovery operation.
