Missing Wall Street Journal reporter’s death ruled drowning

LONG HILL TOWNSHIP (AP) — A medical examiner in North Jersey says the death of a Wall Street Journal reporter whose body was found in a river 14 months after he disappeared was an accident.

The medical examiner determined that 55-year-old David Bird accidentally drowned when he fell into the Passaic River.

Bird was a liver transplant recipient and didn't have his medication with him when he left his Long Hill Township home to take a walk in January 2014.

Two men canoeing in the Passaic River between Long Hill and Bernards Township came across a red jacket in March and police found Bird's remains.

Bird's widow, Nancy, tells the Daily Record of Parsippany  she believes her husband was scrambling to return home as a storm approached and lost his footing on the banks of the river.

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