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Man found dead after Bills game identified

A Buffalo Bills fan who went missing from last night's game has been found dead.

A search, that included an Erie County Sheriff helicopter Air One, for a 26-year-old man ended around 7:20 a.m. Friday.  That's when authorities discovered the man, who late Friday was identified as 26-year-old David Gerken Jr., of the Rochester suburb of Palmyra.

Orchard Park Police Chief Andrew Benz says the man became separated from the group he was with but had made plans to meet at a nearby establishment after the game.

Benz says when the man did not show up, a search was launched.  

"We ended up learning, through a cell phone company, the general area where his cell phone was located. So we concentrated the search in that vicinity behind the stadium. He was located there," Benz told WBFO News.

Other authorities say a relative told police Gerken had been ejected from the game. He was found face down in Smoke’s Creek near Shadow Lane.

Police investigators believed Gerken drowned and may have enduring hypothermia from below-freezing temperatures overnight.  The formal cause of death has not been determined.