Police Identify Body Found in Passaic River

Authorities have identified a body found by workers cleaning Tropical Storm Irene debris from a northern New Jersey river as an elderly Paterson man who has been missing for more than a month.

Clifton police say the body is that of 83-year-old Lucius Gardner. Gardner, who had dementia, was last seen at his Paterson home by his wife on June 3.

His body was discovered in the Passaic River, just above the Dundee Dam in Clifton Thursday.

The Record newspaper reports that Gardner's disappearance last month prompted a massive search that spanned New Jersey and New York.

A cause of death has not yet been determined.

The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission was cleaning the river of fallen trees and other debris from Irene when workers discovered the body.

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