Body of Chelmsford man police believe jumped off bridge still not found

‘He Had His Life in Order. Then This.’

By DENNIS SHAUGHNESSEY, Sun Staff,  Lowell Sun

LOWELL — She is having difficulty even speaking about him in the past tense.

“We’re hoping against hope that somehow he’s somewhere alive,” Paula Wetmore said of her 21-year-old stepson, Ron Wetmore, who apparently jumped off the University Avenue Bridge early Sunday morning. “But with each hour that passes, our hope is dwindling.”

Lowell’s Police and Fire departments continued to search the Merrimack River for Wetmore’s body yesterday. Divers were called in and scoured the river behind LeLacheur Park and the UMass Lowell dormitories in a small pontoon boat for several hours before giving up the search.

“We just want him found, even if it’s just to say goodbye,” Paula Wetmore said. “He means so much to so many people. He has four little brothers and a little sister who idolize him, and they are the apple of his eye.”

The Wetmores do not know all the circumstances surrounding the events that began Saturday night. Police say Wetmore, a North Chelmsford native who was living in an apartment off-campus, was drinking with friends.

“At some point, he was involved in some kind of dispute with a girlfriend,” said Lowell Police Capt. William Taylor. “We have spoken to a number of witnesses who were with him that night, and we do not believe that foul play was involved.”

Wetmore was a close friend of Brandon McDonald, who accidentally fell 60 feet to his death off the same bridge on Sept. 23. Following McDonald’s death, a 5-foot, chain-link fence was constructed along the eastern side of the bridge, which indicates that Wetmore jumped of his own accord, police said.

“At this point, we are hearing different things,” said Paula Wetmore, who, along with her husband Ronald, went to their son’s apartment yesterday afternoon to gather some of his belongings. “All we know is that something went drastically wrong. Terribly wrong. This is not something Ronnie would do. He had a bright future right in front of him. He was excited about graduating from college in the spring. He had an internship with a local stockbroker. He had his life in order. Then this.”

Wetmore was a business finance and marketing major at UMass Lowell.

“He was a hard worker, paid for most of his tuition by himself, earned scholarships. He was just the all-American son,” Paula Wetmore said. “He had every good quality that you want your children to have.”

Yesterday afternoon, while workers searched in the rushing river below, friends and classmates were adding flowers, candles, posters and personal notes to a makeshift memorial on the bridge. Firefighters stood on the riverbank, while dive teams searched. Three men with 10-foot poles waded in and out of the shoreline, trying to withstand the surging water as it whipped over the jagged rocks.

“Nothing,” shouted one worker.

Ken LaBrecque and Peter Francis stood by the river’s edge. The young men knew Wetmore from their Chelmsford neighborhood.

“He was like an older brother to me,” said LaBrecque, adding that he spent time with Wetmore over the Thanksgiving holiday. “He was just the nicest kid you’d ever want to meet. Even though he was older than us, he didn’t mind hanging out with us.”

“He was the center of the room wherever he was,” said Francis. “He was the last guy you’d ever think would even consider something like this.”

Back on the bridge, several friends, including Wetmore’s three roommates, hung an Aerosmith T-shirt at the memorial.

“He was all about music,” said Mike Mottolo. “Oldies music, like Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull. He had an iPod playlist like you wouldn’t believe.”

“He showed up at a party one time, and there was no music,” recalled Mike Cuddy. “He left and came back with this huge boombox on his shoulder. That’s how I’ll always remember him. Just a great kid. The best.”

Friends dispelled rumors that Wetmore jumped because he was distraught over McDonald’s death and was inconsolable. “He was hurt,” Cuddy said. “We all were. But it wasn’t like he was walking around all depressed.”

As darkness fell yesterday, the search was called off. Deputy Fire Chief Michael Donnelly said the rapids were too dangerous to get close to where Wetmore might have gone in.

“Ronnie was everybody’s son,” Paula Wetmore said. “Not just ours. He touched so many lives, and that’s what hurts so bad. People we don’t even know have called us to tell us what he meant to them. He’s 21. Everything was just right there for him. Right at his fingertips.”