TOPSHAM — Topsham police are calling the discovery of a body under the Frank J. Wood Bridge an apparent suicide.

Sgt. Robert Ramsay said a pedestrian crossing the bridge spotted the man’s body about 2:40 p.m. Sunday.

“He committed suicide by jumping off the bridge,” Ramsay said. No one witnessed the man jump, but the state medical examiner ruled he killed himself, Ramsay said.

The narrow two-lane bridge, which carries hundreds of cars daily from Maine Street in Brunswick to Topsham’s downtown district, overlooks a hydroelectric dam on the Androscoggin River.

Ramsay said the dam was shut off Sunday, and there was no water beneath the bridge. The man fell onto a rock-strewn basin.

The man is 55 years old. Police are not releasing his name pending notification of his relatives.

The man’s body was recovered and taken to a local funeral home.


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