After body found in lake, obit acknowledges missing woman's death

MIDDLETOWN — The body found in the waters of Shadow Lake Thursday is missing woman Mary Silengo, police confirmed to New Jersey 101.5 this weekend.

An obituary says "Mary (Babo) Marshall Silengo, 62 ... passed away on October 1st after her lifelong struggle with mental illness." That obituary doesn't address how she died, but that's the same day police found a body in the lake.

Deputy chief Paul Bailey verified her identity to a New Jersey 101.5 reporter Sunday evening, after an earlier version of this report was first published.

Silengo had been considered missing since Sept. 22, and local authorities conducted what they called a "large-scale" search of the lake and area around it. Silengo lived in the Shadow Lake Village community. As of Friday, authorities were stressing her case was still considered a missing persons investigation, and a positive identification of the body that was found in the lake remained pending.

Police said previously that on Thursday, at about 1:30 p.m., they responded to a report of a body floating in the water, discovered by people fishing there. The body was removed with help from the Brevent Fire Company.

Silengo, 62, was last seen about 11 p.m. on Sept. 22 at her Concord Court house in Shadow Lake Village, a 55-and-older community near the Navesink River, Middletown police previously said. She did not have her vehicle, cell phone or the medication she takes for a mental illness, police said.

Her obituary says she "spent her life surrounded by the company of her loving and supportive family and will be dearly missed by them all."

It asks that in lieu of flowers, contributions can be made in her honor to Breast Cancer Alliance, 48 Maple Avenue, Greenwich CT 06830, as she was a recent breast cancer survivor.

An earlier version of this story did not include information about the obituary.