Andy Cohen’s Childhood Friend Found Dead After Going Missing

Andrew Neiman, a childhood friend of Watch What Happens Live host Andy Cohen, was found dead on the shore of the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie, New York last week. Neiman had been missing since last month when he wanted out an emergency room. Cohen helped raise awareness of Neiman’s case by sharing a missing person flyer on his Facebook page earlier this month.

Neiman, 46, was last seen walking out of the Mid-Hudson Regional Hospital on May 21, where he was waiting to be admitted for a mental issue. On Wednesday, remains were found along the Hudson River shore, and they were identified as Neiman’s on Friday, reports the Mid-Hudson News. The Dutchess County Medical Examiner used dental records to make the identification. Neiman was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was not taking medications when he went missing.

“I spent the first half of this month of his missing wracked with terror, knowing in my being that it was very possible that he had met his end. With the encouragement of close family, I would return to the notion that he was on a journey, perhaps even a healing one, and would return when he was ready.
They were not entirely wrong,” Neiman’s sister, Emily Asher Abramson, wrote on Facebook Saturday. “He returned to the source, the brackish waters, the meeting of fresh water and tidal ocean. The great womb.”

Abramson noted that she does not know how to “reckon with something of this magnitude as one great whole,” so she is looking at smaller pieces of her brother’s life, like voicemails and emails, to put together “the story of our love and his mighty presence on this planet.” She added, “As before when we were on the hunt to bring him home, your words of love and prayer and encouragement bring me great comfort at this time. Do not be afraid of saying the wrong thing. Thank you for being the web that I can fall into.”

Cohen, 53, and Neiman attended Clayton High School in St. Louis together, reports Page Six. “Andy is younger than me, but we went to the same camp — Nebagamon in Wisconsin — and the same high school. I’m praying for his safe return, along with a lot of folks in St. Louis,” he told Page Six earlier this month. Neiman was a “wonderful, spiritual guy,” Cohen said. Cohen has not publicly commented on Neiman’s death yet. Neiman was visiting his family in Ulster County, New York when he went missing, reports the Poughkeepsie Journal.

A GoFundMe page was launched to help cover the costs of the search and has raised over $48,000. Since Neiman’s body was found, the funds will go to supporting Neiman’s 8-year-old daughter and to cover funeral costs.