BROOKLYN, NEW YORK: A desperate search for John Castic came to a tragic end on Tuesday, August 1, when his body was pulled from the waters of Newtown Creek, less than half a mile from where he went missing. The 27-year-old Goldman Sachs analyst, who lived in Lower Manhattan, mysteriously disappeared on July 29 after leaving The Brooklyn Mirage near the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Where was John Castic found?
Castic’s body was found at around 11 am when a passerby spotted a bloated, shirtless body floating face down in the English Kills, a branch of the East River tributary, near 1100 Grand St. The man immediately called 911, and the NYPD Emergency Service Unit was dispatched to retrieve the body. Shortly after 11.30 am, a number of large NYPD vessels and rigid inflatable speedboats were first seen in the water, according to Daily Mail. Officials soon recovered the body and identified it as Castic. The body had no obvious signs of trauma, apart from drowning, police sources said. Castic's cause of death has not been revealed as officials are still investigating the case.
When did John Castic go missing?
Castic, who was working as a senior analyst at Goldman Sachs since August 2022, was last seen at around 2.30 am on July 29 when he left The Brooklyn Mirage following a performance by the electronic music group Zeds Dead, as per NYPD. He apparently told his friends that he was getting an Uber back to his apartment in Manhattan's Lower East Side. After he didn't return home, his friends reported him missing on Sunday, July 30. His last known location was near 1133 Grand Street — about half a mile from the concert hall. Notably, Castic is the second person who disappeared in recent weeks after going to The Brooklyn Mirage, one of three performance spaces housed at the Avant Gardner with a seating capacity for 6,000 people.
'A lapse of judgment'
On Tuesday, Castic’s father Jeffrey Castic confirmed his death, saying, "He was so smart but, in the end, he did something dumb, and it cost him. We think he might have been impaired, we do not know, and it was just a lapse of judgment,” according to Fox News. One of his close friends, Sara Kostecka, also remembered him as an “amazing person.” “He is very charismatic, high-energy with a good sense of humor. Whatever happened, he did not deserve this,” she told NY Post. She added that Castic was a “very responsible individual” who would not just disappear.
David Solomon, the chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, described Castic as a "dedicated, driven member" of the investment bank's management team. “We are all shocked and saddened to learn of John’s tragic passing. Our thoughts are with his mother Dawn, his father Jeff, and his entire family at this very difficult time. John will be deeply missed by his Goldman Sachs family,” he said in a statement. Other friends remembered the young man as someone quick with a smile and a joke. “Whenever I was out with him he’d make me laugh — he was the best guy to have a drink with. He loved everybody and everybody loved him. I haven’t met a single person that didn’t have a good time with John or want to be like John. Everybody loved him,” said Eamon Stenson, who met Castic on a kickball team two years ago.
