Friends, family cope with discovery of Umass graduate's body

By Dan Crowley and Owen Boss

Staff Writers

BOSTON - The body of a University of Massachusetts-Amherst graduate who had been missing since February after a birthday celebration in Boston was found floating in Boston Harbor earlier this month, police said.

Eugene Losik, 25, of Lawrence, was last seen in the area of the Marriott Long Wharf Hotel where he was staying with his girlfriend and friends after a night out in Faneuil Hall.

Rick Keilty, one of Losik's best friends, said he was the last person to see him when Keilty left the hotel at 2:15 a.m. to get a cab ride home to nearby Brighton. The two earlier had left the hotel at around 1 a.m. and taken a 20-minute walk before returning. Surveillance video showed Losik leaving the hotel at around 2:30 a.m. He was seen exiting the rear of the hotel toward a small park at the waterfront, Keilty said.

Losik's friends reported him missing when he didn't turn up the next day. His nine-month disappearance and the mystery surrounding his death have devastated his friends and family, many of whom are still seeking answers, Keilty said in a phone interview Monday night.

"There's a lot about the story that just doesn't add up," Keilty said. "We've speculated over every possible idea for the last nine months as to why he would have gone outside. Unfortunately, we'll never really know."

Losik grew up in North Andover and graduated from UMass in 2008 with a degree in electrical engineering. He worked as an engineer at Raytheon developing test equipment. Keilty described Losik as a good friend to everyone around him and someone who always knew what to say to people in any situation. He said the young engineer had a lot to look forward to in life. He was excelling at his job and was preparing to propose to his girlfriend.

"He was only a year older than me, and I looked up to him more than anybody knew," said Keilty, who met Losik during high school. "I would much rather had him come back to us alive."

Losik's mother, Zhanna Losik, told the Boston Globe that the recent discovery of her son's body was "devastating news" for her family.

"We still don't know what happened. We don't know how he ended up in the water. It doesn't answer anything," she told the newspaper.

After several searches this year that included posting fliers around the UMass campus in Amherst, members of the Boston Police Harbor Unit on Nov. 8 responded to a report that a body was seen floating in the area of Rowes Wharf. After recovering the body, a medical examiner confirmed that it was Losik's. The cause and manner of death have not yet been determined, police said.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com