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Posted by: DANIPD

Motorist found dead on flooded Topsfield road

By Bruno Matarazzo Jr. and Ethan Forman
Staff writers


TOPSFIELD — A New Hampshire man died yesterday on a flooded portion of Salem Road while trying to make his way to work, police and his family said.

James Elderkin, 59, left for work between 2:30 and 3:30 a.m. yesterday to put in an eight- to 10-hour day at a machine shop in Ipswich where he worked in maintenance, his daughter, Tammy Gauthier, said.

He never made it to work, and a passing motorist called police about 1 p.m. after spotting a submerged Nissan Altima near the Ipswich River Bridge, police said.

Flooding of the Ipswich River caused extensive flooding on Salem Road in Topsfield, which received almost 12 inches of rain. There are barricades closing the road to traffic, but neighbors have seen four-wheel-drive vehicles making it through.

Lois Sneddon of 3 Hill St. was walking her dog about noon yesterday and was taking pictures of the floodwater near the Ipswich River at the bottom of her street. She ran into a couple from Lynn who were out looking at the flooding and then spotted the car.

"'Oh my gosh,' I said, 'I hope there's no one in the car,'" she later recalled.

The vehicle, described by witnesses as a black, compact sedan, was almost completely submerged about three telephone poles' distance into the water. The car was facing toward the center of the road.

"You could just see the windshield," Sneddon said. "You could see the car, but it didn't look like there was anyone in there. It's so sad."

Sneddon began walking up to the house of her neighbor Emily Lampert when police arrived. According to Topsfield police, closer inspection at the scene revealed a body was inside the car. Local police called the State Police Investigative Services, and firefighters and a tow truck showed up to pull the vehicle out of the water early yesterday afternoon.

Gauthier doesn't know whether her father drowned or had a heart attack. An autopsy is scheduled at the chief medical examiner's office in Boston. The Essex County District Attorney's Office said foul play is not suspected.

Though much uncertainty still surrounds the accident, Gauthier provided a clear picture of the victim as a generous, resolute and industrious father.

"My dad raised us on his own. He was a hardworking man. He'd do anything for you. He didn't have much, but he'd give you whatever he had," Gauthier said in a telephone interview from her older sister's home in Malden.

Elderkin lived in an in-law apartment with Gauthier, her husband and their two children on Derry, N.H.'s Damren Road for three years. Gauthier learned of her father's death when police arrived at her door yesterday afternoon. Her daughter put the police officer on the phone with Gauthier, who was at work. The police told her there was an accident involving the Nissan registered in her name.

Born and raised in Bangor, Maine, Elderkin lived for many years in Waltham.

His daughter remembered her father as old-fashioned. He never missed work — even when he was sick — and his boss had to order him to take a vacation.

At home, he liked to kick up his feet and watch bowling, fishing or the Red Sox or Patriots on television. He'd go to his daughter's portion of the home to eat dinner and play with his grandkids and then went back to relax. Elderkin had seven grandchildren among his three daughters. His daughters Alice and Holly live in Malden.

He loved gambling. He played scratch tickets and the lottery all the time, and he always got together with his high school buddies every Sunday to play cribbage.

And when he'd win, he'd share the jackpots, one of which was $5,000.

"He'd win all the time, and he'd give all his daughters money," Gauthier said.

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Posted by: 4ransom

I am willing to bet that about 5 news cameras zoomed in on this poor guy's car while he was drowning and his body was floating in the front seat. Too bad none of them noticed...

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