Body Of Vanished NYPD Cop Gladstone Haynes Found In Guyana

A missing Brooklyn-based NYPD officer's body was discovered in Guyana early Wednesday, Nov. 2, three days after he vanished while swimming in a waterfall during a vacation, said reports.

His local address was given as 164 Fourth Street, Alexander Village but the New York Police Department confirmed that he was a member of that law enforcement agency up to the time of his death.

43-year-old Gladstone Haynes, a 17-year department veteran serving at the 70th Precinct, was found dead at Orinduik Falls around 6:30 a.m. local time Wednesday, news outlet Demerara Waves reported.

He was reported missing on the afternoon of Sunday, Oct. 30, after failing to return from an excursion to the waterfall.

“Enquiries disclosed that Gladstone was swimming below the Orinduik Falls in the water, which was high and streaming heavily at the time. He reportedly went under the surface of the water and disappeared,” local police stated, according to the Demerara Waves.

Haynes had gone to the well-known tourist destination at the border of Guyana and Brazil with his children's mother, Alicia Vassell, who was celebrating her 34th birthday that day. The couple had first visited Kaieteur Falls before continuing on to Orinduik Falls as part of a tour group.

According to a witness who spoke to Demerara Waves, Haynes got into problems while swimming and grabbed hold of another man's hand.

“I don’t know if the guy couldn’t grip him, and at that point, he went underwater and he didn’t come up back after that point,” the witness said.

Local authorities spent the next three days scouring the area in search of the missing cop before his body was discovered at the waterfall Wednesday.

Prior to the grim find, the NYPD confirmed to the media on Tuesday, Nov. 1 that the department was helping Guyanese authorities in the search for Haynes.

Concerns have been raised that there was no tour guide when the family arrived aboard an Air Services Limited (ASL) plane.

According to publicly available records, Haynes has been on the force since 2005 and at the 70th Precinct since 2017 and earned $105,000 last year.