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Identification Expected Soon After Body Found

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SHERMAN — Identification of a body found late last week near the site of the Great Blue Heron Music Festival is expected by the end of the week. The discovery came after a nearly weeklong search for a missing Warren County, Pa., man last seen at the Heron Farm and Event Center in rural Sherman.

Capt. Eric Balon of the New York State Police said investigators were still waiting on autopsy results before positively identifying the man as 23-year-old Sven Blumquist. Though no official word has been released by police, family of the Conewango Township, Pa., man has acknowledged that the body was that of Blumquist.

A memorial gathering was held Saturday on Heron grounds by Blumquist’s friends and family. In a statement posted on their Facebook page, owners of the Heron Farm and Event Center said they offered “deepest sympathy and heartfelt prayers to the family.”

In a statement to The Post-Journal on Friday, Julie Rockcastle, co-owner of the Heron, offered condolences to the Blumquist family.

“All of us at the Blue Heron Music Festival are deeply saddened by the loss of Sven Blumquist,” she said. “I didn’t know him personally but he seems like a really nice kid from a really wonderful family. We’ve never had an event like this happen in 27 years. Words can’t really express how terrible we feel about this and how we feel for the family. … We’re working with the family to find a way to honor him at the (Blue Heron) with a gathering or a memorial or something like that. He really loved it here. The family understood why when they came out here.”

Blumquist was last seen leaving his campsite early Saturday, July 7. Several agencies — including state police, the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office and state Forest Rangers — assisted in searching for the Warren County native.

The Conewango Township Police Department handled the initial investigation but handed things off to state police after the body was discovered sometime late Thursday. Earlier that day, several local K-9 units searched in and around the Heron grounds.

Heather Burkett, Blumquist’s sister, said her brother looked forward to the annual event in Sherman. “It was his favorite music festival. He wouldn’t miss it,” she said.

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