Austin Bice: Body of U.S. exchange student missing in Madrid for over a week is found in river

The body of an American exchange student missing since late last month was found today in a river in Madrid.

Austin Bice, 22, from Carlsbad, Califoia, was last seen leaving a nightclub alone in the Spanish capital on February 26th.

He wrote on his blog the day before he went missing about how much work he had completed at university that week, adding: ‘What makes up for a tough week? A great weekend."

 

Found: Police raise the covered body of U.S. exchange student Austin Bice from the Manzanares River in Madrid

Bice's body was found in the Manzanares River, a shallow, slow-moving waterway that runs through weste Madrid, in a spot not far from the nightclub where he was last seen.

Bice, from Carlsbad, Califoia, was studying inteational business at Carlos III University and had been in Spain since January.

Conceed: Larry Bice, Austin's father, flew in from the family's Califoia home to help with the efforts to find the missing 22-year-old

His father Larry flown out to help in the search for Austin, who was studying inteational business for a semester at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.

Police investigating his disappearance had combed through CCTV images of the Madrid subway.

A friend, Maria Garcia, said: ‘He had left his credit cards and passport in his room, and had not taken a winter coat, so we're conceed because it was very cold that night."

Bice and his friends had been drinking at an apartment before going out to the Sala La Riviera nightclub.

A doorman suggested the 6ft 5in football player rest a while before going in because he looked unwell and a friend stayed outside with him until Bice said he was going home.

Family: Austin Bice with, from second left, his sister Alyssa Nelson, parents Pam and Larry Bice, and his sister Ashley Jantz

The next day the people he was staying with laid a plate for him for lunch, but when he didn"t come out of his room, they realised he wasn"t there and called the authorities.

Tamara Lerena said on local Spanish television: ‘He didn't open his door, so we went in. He wasn't there, so we started calling the hospitals, we started calling the police.

‘Police started thinking about the river. But his American mobile phone was still sending out a signal. But if he had fallen in the river, the phone would not be giving out a signal."

A day earlier he had written on his blog about a Fatboy Slim concert he had gone to with friends, staying out until 6am.

Happy: Austin grinning at a Fatboy Slim concert he had been to the night before his disappearance