Questions Remain About Tragic Sag Harbor Drownings

By T.J. Clemente

Many questions remain unanswered concerning the fates of two men who were reported missing on May 15, 2008, and whose bodies were recently found: Thomas M. Leone, 56, formally of Sag Harbor where he was living on his sailboat, and Thomas A. Karpiuk, 36. Leone's dory was found capsized in a location the police have reported as outside the channel in Sag Harbor. On Friday, May 25, Leone's body washed ashore and was discovered by a man and his grandchildren in the Barcelona Beach area. Leone was a local commercial painter.

The facts surrounding Karpiuk's death are more mysterious and tragic. His body washed up between the waters separating Sag Harbor and North Haven on Sunday, May 27. Karpiuk, a former U.S. Marine who leaves behind a fiancée, is originally from West Palm Beach, Florida and was employed as an estate manager by a wealthy Bridgehampton resident.

It is known that Leone and Karpiuk had beers together on occasion and Karpiuk's vehicle, a Yukon Denali, was found parked in front of the Sag Harbor Breakwater Yacht Club not far from where Leone kept his dory. But the chain of events that led to the deaths of the two men is unknown. An official close to the investigation said it's still not clear if the men were returning to the town from Leone's 40-foot plus sailboat or going to it. The official postulated that one of the men fell in the water, and the other perhaps attempted a failed rescue, but this is for the Southampton detectives assigned to the case to determine. The fact that the bodies surfaced in different areas is attributed to changing tides and the time it took for them to surface after the tragic drowning.

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