Barry Cowsill: R.I.P.

This isn't unexpected, but it's still sad.

Cowsills member dead; missing since Katrina
Barry Cowsill was bassist for '60s singing family

Cowsill's body, recovered December 28 from the Chartres Street Wharf, was identified with dental records Tuesday, said Dr. Louis Cataldie, head of the state hurricane morgue in Carville.

The coroner had not determined the cause of death but believed it was related to the devastating storm, which struck the city August 29.

Cowsill, who lived on and off in New Orleans, had not been heard from since he left phone messages for his sister September 1, his family's Web site said.

"They tell us he'd been dead for quite some time," Richard Cowsill, his brother, said in a telephone interview Thursday. "We love him and we're going to miss him, but he's in a much better place, in my mother's arms."

The Cowsills -- the inspiration for the TV series "The Partridge Family" -- recorded a series of top hits between 1967 and 1970, including "The Rain, The Park and Other Things," "Indian Lake" and "Hair."

Scout Prime as been doing great work on the shameful process of body recovery in New Orleans. This guy was sort of famous, and people have been looking for him for four months. Imagine the fate of poorer, less privileged folks.