By Seamus McGraw

PORTLAND, Maine — In the end, it was just a tragic accident.

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Lynn Moran, the vivacious 24-year-old dancer and children's advocate accidentally slipped into the chilly waters off Portland's Old Port section and drowned, authorities said Monday.

Police made the announcement at a press conference in Portland this afternoon, just hours after the young woman's body still wearing the same clothes she was last seen in, was pulled from the harbor. According to officials, the state Medical Examiner concluded that Moran has drowned and that her death was an accident. "We can now say that foul play was not involved in her death," acting Police Chief Tim Burton told reporters at a late afternoon press conference.

Authorities are still awaiting the results of toxicological studies to determine whether alcohol or other substances may have played a role in the accident.

The announcement brings a tragic end to the 21-day search for the young woman, and puts to rest fears that she may have been a victim of violence. Moran, a native of Portland who returned to the city from Massachusetts was shoeless and wearing a tan plaid shirt and blue jeans when she was last seen on the night of Oct. 10 at a local record store. She had just left a male acquaintance's house following a night of drinking a local pub in the city's Old Port section, authorities have said.

Her disappearance sparked national interest and triggered a citywide search with volunteers and officials combing the waterfront and beyond. Her family offered a $10,000 reward for information about the young woman, a tiny, 100-pound ballerina who worked as director for two homes for foster children.

But the neither the search nor the reward turned up anything. Then, just after dawn this morning, authorities received a call reporting a body floating in the harbor near the Maine State Pier. The body was recovered within sight of the Old Port area where Moran was last seen. Authorities opine that the body may have been submerged and that changing water temperatures and currents may have caused it to surface today when a passerby, waiting for a boat, spotted the body floating in the harbor.

The body was taken to the Medical Examiner's office in Augusta where it was positively identified.