NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- The family of Peter Beard, the artist and wildlife photographer who disappeared last month from his ocean bluff property on Long Island’s East End, confirmed that a body found on Sunday in Montauk was Beard’s.

After a 19-day search, the East Hampton Town Police released a statement on Sunday afternoon saying it discovered “the remains of an elderly male consistent with the physical and clothing description of Beard was located in a densely wooded area.” Police added that the investigation remained open while the body, discovered in Camp Hero State Park in Montauk, awaited identification by the Suffolk County Medical Examiner.

On Sunday evening, Christine Heenan, a spokesperson for the Beard family, confirmed his death in a statement: “Peter defined what it means to be open: open to new ideas, new encounters, new people, new ways of living and being. Always insatiably curious, he pursued his passions without restraints and perceived reality through a unique lens.”

Beard, 82, had dementia and had experienced at least one stroke. He was last seen outdoors on his property by his wife, Nejma Beard, on March 31 around 4:40 p.m. On Sunday, a hunter spotted some clothing in the state park about 1 mile from the Beard home and alerted police, Heenan said.

The search for Beard was extensive, involving helicopters, drones, dogs and more than 75 police and fire officials as well as relatives, friends and neighbors, who combed the area, much of it thick with briers, in and around the artist’s 6-acre compound, said John Claflin, a lieutenant in the Montauk precinct of the East Hampton Police Department.

The property, where Beard lived with his wife, features a series of cottages, including Beard’s studio. It has sweeping ocean views and is adjacent to the 754-acre Camp Hero State Park. It wasn’t his habit to carry a phone or a wallet.

On Sunday afternoon, police and state parks rangers had closed off the portion of road known colloquially as the “old” Old Montauk Highway that leads to Beard’s house, near a long drive to the former estate of Andy Warhol.

Danger was seductive to Beard, who combined documentary images of Africa with drawings and diaristic text detailing his adventurous life. He roped rhinoceroses, was once trampled by an elephant and welcomed creative accidents if they inspired a sense of beauty or doom. For decades, he was also a mainstay of the small, year-round community in Montauk.

Scott Pitches, who was working at the barricade leading to the entrance of Camp Hero State Park, was wistful about the news on Sunday. Looking west to the city under a brilliant blue sky, Pitches said of Beard, “I was hoping he had just snuck away for one last trip to the city.”

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