POLICE have confirmed that the body found in Cave Hill Country Park on Saturday was that of missing Newtownabbey man Dean McIlwaine.
Hundreds of volunteers had helped during the search on Saturday of the north Belfast country park for the popular young barber who was due to open his own business within weeks.
The 22 year-old was last seen in the Carnmoney Road area of Newtownabbey on July 13.
Police have indicated that his death is not being treated as suspicious.
His parents, Karen and Rodney, who issued an emotional plea last week for him to come home, told of their heartbreak.
"I don't know how we are going on without him, because he was so close to us all.
"The thought of him being up there on Cave Hill on his own breaks my heart," Mrs McIlwaine told the Belfast Telegraph.
Police carried out extensive searches for him and released CCTV footage taken on the day he went missing as they appealed for information on his whereabouts.
During Saturday's search, hundreds of people including members of the public, the Northern Ireland Land Rovers Club, Belfast City Council and Belfast Hill members turned out.
Shankill Road funeral director Stephen McCosh has offered to take care of the burial arrangements without charge.
Meanwhile, police in south Belfast have thanked the public for their assistance in identifying the man, believed to be in his fifties, whose body was recovered from the River Lagan at Shaw's Bridge on Friday July 14.
Detective Inspector Richard Thornton said he hoped it "will now bring some closure to the deceased’s family".
