The Goldman Sachs banker found dead in a Brooklyn creek after leaving a concert venue drowned, a medical examiner has said.
John Castic, 27, a senior analyst at the financial institution, was found dead on 1 August, just weeks after the body of psychologist Karl Cemente, also 27, was found in Newtown Creek.
The waterway is near the Brooklyn Mirage Club, which they both had visited shortly before disappearing.
Mr Castic, who is from Chicago, visited the club on 29 July and his body was found on 1 August, while Mr Clemente visited the venue on 11 June with his remains being found in the creek on 16 June.
Mr Castic’s father, Jeffrey Castic, told Fox News Digital that the city’s medical examiner told him his son had drowned.
“The coroner’s office has confirmed that he drowned,” he said. “At the moment we’re trying to focus on the positive of his life. He was a bright, charismatic, caring and hardworking young man.”
While the medical examiner is waiting to receive a toxicology report, police have told the father that they think the younger Mr Castic was impaired by alcohol and possibly drugs at the time of his death.
Mr Castic had left a concert at the club at 2.30am on 29 July.
A passerby saw his shirtless body in the water on 1 August in the creek, which is located in a more remote area of the city which includes warehouses and factories. He still had his phone and wallet on him.
The father of Mr Clemente has said that he’s still waiting for the results of an autopsy and a toxicology report.
Jeffrey Castic said questions remain about his son’s death – security footage shows the 27-year-old walking with a steady footing after leaving the concert venue.
At 3.51am, his phone showed his location at the Metropolitan Avenue Bridge, close to where his body was later discovered before the phone shut down. Walking from the venue to the bridge takes about eight minutes.
It’s unclear where he was between 2.30am when he left the venue and 3.51am when his phone’s location was recorded, and why he was shirtless when he was found, his father told Fox.
“We really don’t have answers yet,” he said.
When the Castic family visited the banker’s East Village apartment that he shared with his roommates, they found nothing out of the ordinary.
Sara Kostecka, a friend of Mr Castic, told Fox that he had been working at the bank for around a year and that he had been very excited about getting the job.
A number of his friends have said that the death is suspicious, noting that Mr Castic isn’t someone who would do something reckless.
“This was not accidental,” Ms Kostecka, 25, told Fox. “I think there’s foul play.”
“We are all shocked and saddened to learn of John’s tragic passing,” Goldman Sachs CEO and chairman David Solomon said in a Wednesday statement. “John was a dedicated, driven member of our Controllers team working closely with our Asset and Wealth Management business.”
