State Police create stir by mistakenly reissuing news release on body found in Charles

By Globe Staff

State Police created a media flurry today when they mistakenly reissued a press release originally distributed Monday when the body of an apparently homeless man was found in the Charles River by the Boston University Bridge.

The Boston Globe’s related websites, boston.com and bostonglobe.com, posted breaking news alerts on their websites and on their Twitter accounts. So did many other Boston-area media outlets.

The postings and tweets generated ripples of reaction on social media to what appeared to be the third discovery of a third body in the Charles in the past four days.

But State Police later issued a statement blaming a problem with their e-mail system for the mishap.

“Due to an apparent email problem, an email initially sent on Monday, Oct. 8 from the State Police Media Relations Unit reached its recipients today, three days later,” State Police spokesman David Procopio said in a statement. “We apologize for the error and are working with our Management Information Section to troubleshoot the problem.”

On Monday, the body of a 62-year-old man was found in the Charles near the BU bridge. The man’s death is not considered suspicious. His name has not been released.

On Tuesday, the body of Jonathan Dailey, a graduate student from Allston, was found in the water. A law enforcement source told the Globe his body was weighted down with chains and cinder blocks. His death remains under investigation.