YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: An Oakland woman whose decomposed body was found in her car at the bottom of a West Milford lake tonight apparently killed herself, CLIFFVIEW PILOT has learned.
“The body was found fully intact in the front seat,” a law enforcement source with knowledge of the incident told CLIFFVIEW PILOT tonight. “The belief is that she just drove in.”
Authorities must wait until a medical examiner can positively identify the remains tomorrow.
However, all indications are that it’s Cathy Ann DeBono, 49, who was last seen in Oakland on Easter Sunday (March 23), 2008, the source said. Police said she’d left home at 9:30 that night in the white 2004 Toyota Camry discovered tonight and was never heard from again.
“There is no reason for us to suspect foul play at this time,” an Oakland police officer said at the time.
A diving team on a training exercise found DeBono’s submerged car in 18 feet of water in the Monksville Reservoir around 6:30 tonight.
Initial, unconfirmed reports were that the body was found in a large bag in the back seat, but those proved completely wrong.
CHECK BACK FOR MORE DETAILS