Who was he? How did he get there? Wetsuit may hold key to mystery of body found in Wales reservoir

The Claerwen Reservoir is deep in the Welsh countryside. (Wayne Hutchinson/imageBROKER/Shutterstock via CNN Newsource)

Early on October 18, 2024, Wales police received a phone call from a member of the public. It was the start of a mystery that remains unsolved four months later.

There was a body in the water of the Claerwen Reservoir, the caller said, according to a statement released by Dyfed-Powys Police on Sunday.

The reservoir is a remote and picturesque spot in central Wales, about 90 miles northwest of the capital, Cardiff.

An autopsy later established that the body was that of a White man aged between 30 and 60 years old, about 6 feet (1.8 metres) tall, wearing a wetsuit, and had been in the water for up to 12 weeks.

Police identified the XL-sized wetsuit as the “Agile” design made by Zone 3, which is advertised on its manufacturer’s website as suitable for those “new to open water swimming or triathlon.”

That, for the moment, is all police are saying they know. They don’t know the man’s identity and they found no evidence of his personal belongings, any vehicle or a bike he may have left on the banks of the reservoir despite extensive searches, a police spokesperson told CNN on Monday.

The nearest bus stop is about a four-hour walk away and so “it is unlikely he walked there in a wetsuit,” the spokesperson added.

Several signs around the reservoir warn against swimming there, they said.

“It is very unusual for a body to be found … and to be a few months into an investigation with no confirmed identification.”

Requests to other police forces in the UK and Interpol, the international police agency, as well as forensic tests haven’t yielded any clues about the man’s identity, the spokesperson said.

Nonetheless, the man’s death is not “currently thought to be suspicious,” an inquest opened on Monday by assistant coroner Rachel Knight heard, according to the BBC.

At the moment, police believe the man entered the water voluntarily sometime last summer.

Knight adjourned the inquest after recording that the cause of death was “pending further investigation,” and called for public help in identifying the man.

The police appealed for information “from anyone who has visited the Claerwen reservoir, or the surrounding area, between the beginning of July 2024 and October 18, and haven’t spoken to police yet,” Detective Inspector Anthea Ponting said in the police statement.

“We also continue to appeal for anyone who does have information – who thinks that something mentioned could relate to a missing person in their own life/or who they may know – to come forward.

“We are keeping an open mind into the circumstances and continue to work towards finding out who he was, any family and what happened to him,” she added.

The Claerwen reservoir is one of several in the area that provides water to Birmingham, the UK’s second-largest city.

Unauthorized swimming in these reservoirs is prohibited and can be dangerous due to their cold, deep water which can also hide equipment underneath.

Article written by Issy Ronald, CNN