Groton — A man who has been missing since Oct. 29 from New London was found dead Wednesday at Bluff Point State Park in Groton in an apparent suicide, according to officials.

New London police, Connecticut State Police and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection had been searching the park since Tuesday night for 40-year-old Petr Hejl, who has been missing for at least six days, police and DEEP officials said.

Hejl’s vehicle had been located at the park Tuesday night. His body was found Wednesday morning, according to Will Healey, media relations manager for DEEP. Healey said the death was a suspected suicide.

Cause and manner of death will be determined by the Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner. The park reopened Wednesday afternoon after police finished processing the scene and the investigation was ongoing, Healey said.

Joseph Kostenko, a friend of Hejl’s, said that Hejl stopped answering texts and calls from friends and family just before Halloween and then didn’t show up to a Halloween party he organized. Kostenko went to his home on Nov. 1 and neighbors said they hadn’t seen him in days, he said.

Kostenko called police for a wellness check and reported his friend missing. He said Hejl’s car, a blue Volkswagen Tiguan, was found at the state park. He heard today that Hejl had been found dead, but still didn’t know what happened.

When Kostenko moved to New London earlier this year, Hejl was one of his first friends in the city and was “one of the sweetest men I've ever known," he said.

He “always cared about everybody (was) very artistic and was just all around an amazing person, it's a tragedy,” he said. “He will be forever missed by so many.”

On a Facebook page belonging to Hejl, there were dozens of messages from friends and family expressing sorrow over his death.

t.hartz@theday.com