(Added 4:09 pm: Photo by Tristan Baurick/Kitsap Sun; used with permission)
2:18 PM: Through the comments following our latest story on the search for missing 24-year-old West Seattleite Jeremy Peck, we learned of an investigation on Bainbridge Island – a body, believed to be male, washed up today, and the Kitsap Sun reports that Bainbridge Police are working with Seattle Police. Commenters wondered, is there any link to the Jeremy Peck search? We have checked with Seattle Police’s media unit, which is in turn checking with detectives, and with Seattle Police’s West Seattle leadership, through the Southwest Precinct; Capt. Steve Paulsen says they haven’t heard anything. The Kitsap Sun’s latest update says their county’s medical examiner is handling the case and will be responsible for identification. Again, there is nothing so far that says there’s any relation, except that Bainbridge police are quoted as saying it might be related to a Seattle missing-persons case, and that the body may have been in the water two or three weeks; we wanted to let you know we are checking. Our latest update on the Jeremy Peck search is here; we just added a news release sent by organizers of this Sunday’s vigil.

3:45 PM UPDATE: Commenting via e-mail, Jeremy Peck’s longtime friend Ben Doty, who is helping lead search effort, told WSB, “At this time, we’re aware of what happened in Bainbridge Island. Nothing has been confirmed. We remain hopeful.”

11:06 PM UPDATE: KING5 picked up the story tonight; here’s their link. The Sun has updated to say that the King County Medical Examiner now has possession of the Bainbridge body and will announce the ID if/when that’s available. In their comment section, another case of a young adult man missing about the same period of time was brought up – a 25-year-old soldier who jumped off the Tacoma Narrows Bridge a few days before Christmas.

THURSDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: The King County Medical Examiner’s Office just got the body today, according to both a KCME spokesperson and Seattle Police spokesperson Det. Mark Jamieson. The official ID has not yet been determined nor made public. Until it is, and until cause of death is determined, according to Det. Jamieson, police’s next move won’t be clear – for example, even if it is Jeremy Peck, was it homicide, suicide, or an accident? All that is part of what the KC Medical Examiner is looking at right now.

About 15 people gathered at West Seattle’s Chelan Café to plot the next steps in the search for 24-year-old Jeremy Peck, last seen in the early-morning hours of December 24th. Among them, in the next photo L to R, a longtime friend of Jeremy’s, Ben Doty, who graduated West Seattle High School with him in 2005, and Jeremy’s birth father Stephan Peck:

Though Jeremy was raised by his uncle John Peck, Stephan came to West Seattle more than a week ago to help search for him; tomorrow he has to go home to Wenatchee.

“I am trying to think positive about this. But, sometimes, I … I’d just like him to come home. Or just show up anywhere.”

And Jeremy could be anywhere at this point. Parks have been checked, it was noted at the meeting, like Schmitz Park and Me-Kwa-Mooks, but volunteers acknowledge they could use more coordination. WSB contributor Deanie Schwarz, covering the meeting, reports that they say only one or two people were covering each of these areas; they feel as if they need to search all of them again with many more people scouring the brush and hillsides. “We’re not professionally trained and the areas are so vast, and some are steep hills … We need somebody to coordinate those search efforts,” Doty said.

If you can help with that, look for signup sheets at this Sunday’s vigil (starting at 4:30 outside Admiral Pub, where Jeremy was reported to have last been seen).

Also in the works, an account (at Wells Fargo) where money can be donated for the search efforts, which have now grown into an operation with its own checklists – flyers, banners, posters, a lawyer (to get cell-phone records made public), search dogs, private detective, psychic. And they’re working to set up a website where information will be available as well as a PayPal account for donations, in addition to the “Find Jeremy Peck” Facebook page.

If you’ve missed the original coverage or need a reminder: Jeremy is 6’2″, about 177 pounds, has medium brown hair and brown eyes, and was last seen wearing blue jeans, tennis shoes, and a black waist length coat over a gray hoodie sweatshirt.

An anonymous tip line has been created for anyone with information: 206-478-4905.

ADDED MIDDAY WEDNESDAY: The group has sent an official news release about Sunday’s vigil – after the jump:Read More