Still No Answers in Barnegat Bay Drowning

Two weeks have passed since 18-year-old Ryan Worrall headed off to a party to celebrate his recent graduation from Central Regional High School.

And just what happened in the darkness on Barnegat Bay during the early morning hours of June 10 is still unclear.

"Nothing today," State Police Sgt. Stephen Jones said. "No developments this week."

Ryan Worrall's body was found in the water off Amherst Beach late in the afternoon on June 17 by an off-duty State Police officer on a Wave Runner. An autopsy the following day determined the young man who grew up on the tidal marshes in Bayville died of accidental drowning.

Worrall and another friend - identified by sources as Trevor Murphy, 18, -  had attended a post-graduation party on the evening of June 9 and were dropped off by friends near Worrall's Balsam Drive home in Bayville in the Friday morning darkness.

The two men then took a canoe out into Barnegat Bay. At some point, the canoe overturned and both men went into the water, Jones has said.

State Police have not released any details about the accident, including Murphy's name, how the canoe overturned or why no one called for help.

"Our detectives will take their time," Jones said. "They are not going to jump to conclusions. They will be methodical."

Ryan Worrall died of accidental drowning, according to an autopsy performed at Community Medical Center last Saturday. There were no obvious signs of trauma to his body, Jones has said.

He had just graduated from Central Regional High School two days earlier. Hundreds turned out for his two wakes last week.