A former New Jersey youth football coach was found dead Wednesday after disappearing on Christmas night, police said.
Stephen Iannotti, a 72-year-old Logan Township man, was found dead after authorities located his vehicle in South Jersey, the Gloucester County emergency management department said in a Facebook post. His cause of death was not revealed.
“It is with a heavy heart that we must advise that Mr. Iannotti has been located, and tragically, he is deceased,” the department wrote. “Out of respect for Coach I’s privacy and the privacy of his family, this will be the only update on this unfortunate case, and we will not comment further.”
Iannotti’s family reported him missing on Dec. 28, and investigators quickly learned he was spotted on a doorbell camera leaving the family home, about 15 miles southwest of Philadelphia, around 12:45 a.m. on Dec. 26.
The black 1997 Jeep Wrangler that Iannotti was driving was seen at a Logan Township intersection about eight minutes later but then nowhere afterwards, cops said.
Iannotti left his cellphone at home, and no credit card charges were registered in his name. Authorities said Iannotti’s case did not fit a Silver Alert, which is frequently used when elderly people wander from their homes.
Video from local NBC affiliate WCAU showed Iannotti’s Jeep being carried away on a dirt road Wednesday after being located by investigators.
Iannotti was a math teacher and football coach in the Kingsway Regional School District, according to NJ.com. The district did not comment on Iannotti’s disappearance.
