A man and woman, both in their 70s, were found dead of separate apparent drownings in backyard swimming pools two days apart on eastern Long Island over the weekend, authorities said.
Southold Town Police said 78-year-old Rev. Gerald Langelier, a Queens Catholic priest, was found dead at the bottom of the pool at his home on Maple Avenue in Southold at 5 p.m. Friday.
He was taken to Eastern Long Island Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Then at 2:20 p.m. Sunday, Suffolk County police said 70-year-old Barbara Bruce was found floating in an in-ground pool in the backyard of a house on Saggese Circle in Nesconset.
Bruce, of upstate Hopewell Junction, was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Homicide Squad detectives are continuing the investigation.
The case is the tenth apparent drowning on LI this year and follows three such incidents in one week earlier this month. A man also drowned in an East Meadow pool last week.
Those cases were preceded by a man who drowned in a Southampton pool in late June, a woman being found dead in the pool outside her Syosset home days later and a brother and sister ages 5 and 7 who drowned in a Central Islip pool in April.
