By John Schwing

WESTPORT — The 62-year-old man, whose body was found last month in a shallow retention pond at a Greens Farms office park, died from accidental drowning, according to an autopsy conducted by the state’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Errol Whyte, a Stamford resident, had been reported missing since last Dec. 30 when his SUV was abandoned on a local stretch of Interstate 95, between southbound Exits 17 and 18, until his body was found April 3 in the pond at 55-57 Greens Farms Road.

The Westport police investigation into the circumstances of Whyte’s death remains ongoing, spokesman Lt. Eric Woods said Wednesday.

But, he added, the autopsy results appear to support indications that, so far, there is not “any evidence to believe this is anything but an unfortunate accident.”

While the investigation continues, Woods declined to discuss any specifics of the case other than, in response to an inquiry from the Westport Journal, to confirm “that from when his vehicle was located on I-95 to the time his body was recovered, there were no reports or sightings of Mr. Whyte.”

Whyte was reported missing the day after heading back to his Stamford home following a Dec. 29 visit to his son’s home in Bridgeport.

His red Ford Explorer SUV was abandoned on the shoulder of southbound I-95, roughly between the Hillspoint and Hales road overpasses in Westport. That location was across the highway’s buffer from Greens Farms Road and the westerly entrance to the two-building office complex.

Police said they found Whyte’s keys, two cellphones and wallet in the vehicle, although there was no money or driver’s license in the wallet.

Whyte was reported missing Dec. 30, and his whereabouts remained unknown — despite Stamford police investigators’ expansion of the search to the Tri-State area — until his body was found April 3.

Whyte’s body appeared to have been in the water for “a significant amount of time,” Woods said at the time. Police dispatched to the scene retrieved the body from water that appeared to be about waist deep, he said.

John Schwing, the Westport Journal consulting editor, has held senior editorial and writing posts at southwestern Connecticut media outlets for four decades. Learn more about us here.