Body of Seattle man found in New Orleans river

NEW ORLEANS — The body of a 26-year-old Seattle man who was in New Orleans for a recording conference washed up near a wharf eight days after he jumped into the Mississippi River from a ferry.

John Gagliano, chief investigator for the New Orleans coroner's office, says the body of Mark Mercer IV was spotted by a longshoreman at 2:30 a.m. today. Gagliano ruled the cause of death was drowning.

Family and friends say Mercer was a musician and producer who was in New Orleans to attend the Pot Luck Audio Conference, a series of panels and workshops about the recording industry.

He had spent the last 18 months producing a record with the Seattle-based band Mass Phantoms.

Mercer was with friends on June 9 sitting on a levee near the ferry landing. They say he boarded the ferry, ran to the bottom level and jumped over the rails before his friends could stop him.

They say that when the ferry crew threw him life rings, Mercer refused to grab hold because he wanted to play around in the water and swim, apparently thinking he was close enough to the bank to swim back.