Teacher's body recovered in Schuylkill

FOR A FEW brief hours yesterday afternoon, there was still hope.

Police reported that the Greater Philadelphia Search and Rescue - a group formed in 1979 to help locate lost and missing people - had found a body at 1:18 p.m., caught in the tree line along the Schuylkill near the Falls Bridge.

Despite immediate speculation that it could be the body of missing Bucks County teacher Christopher Tully, police would only identify the man as "John Doe."

But as the sun was setting, Tully's brother, Eddie, broke the news to thousands of supporters that #findtully was over.

"It has been confirmed that the recovery that took place today was in fact Chris," Eddie Tully posted at 5:10 p.m. on Twitter and Facebook, the same tools that had been used to build a 7,000-strong Internet community around the search for the missing teacher.

Christopher Tully was found not far from where he last was seen.

Tully, 40, a married father of three and a teacher at the Middle Bucks Institute of Technology, in Jamison, had been missing since the morning of Jan. 6, when he got out of his parents' car near Ridge Avenue and Lincoln Drive. The family said Tully had bipolar disorder and hadn't been taking his medication.

Tully's disappearance generated widespread interest on social media. More than $10,000 was raised online for information about his whereabouts.

Last year, Tully was named teacher of the year by the Pennsylvania Association for Career and Technical Education.

On Thursday, Eddie Tully asked for help in a video he posted on Facebook, clinging to the possibility that his brother was alive and would see it.

"The only hope I have is the constant support from the people on social media to share this video in hopes that he sees it and knows that his family, his parents, his students, his three boys and a lot of other people that have shown support want him home, want to know that he's safe, need an answer," Eddie Tully said in the video.

Police said an autopsy would be performed to determine the cause of death.