Body found on Ocean Grove beach ID’d as missing man

NEPTUNE TOWNSHIP — The body found on the Ocean Grove beach Wednesday has been identified as a 61-year-old man who was reported missing last month.

Richard Morton was last seen Aug. 28 at his home. He never showed up for work at the Clothing Center in East Brunswick.  An alert was issued by Neptune Police a week-and-a-half later and family put up posters on the Asbury Park boardwalk and in Ocean Grove seeking information.

Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Charles Webster confirmed Thursday that Morton's body was recovered a day earlier on the beach.

Webster said a cause of death will be determined during an autopsy.

Morton's family also confirmed his death in a Facebook post.

"It is with great sadness that we tell you that after 20 days missing Richard has been located. He died by the beach and in the town he loved," Morton's cousin Patrick Mackin wrote on Morton's Facebook page.

Also on Thursday, police in New Brunswick pulled a man's body from the Raritan River. The body had not been identified by late Thursday afternoon.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com.