A body pulled from the Passaic River late last week was positively identified as a Kearny woman reported missing Feb. 15, the Kearny Police Department announced on its Facebook page.
The KPD offered the following details:
On Feb. 15, at 12:31 a.m., Rosa A. Lescano’s daughter reported to police that her 66-year-old mother had been missing from home since around 10 a.m., Feb. 14. She also reported that her mother didn’t drive and had left her mobile phone at home.
Hours later, detectives learned that another family member had found a hand-written suicide note in the home.
An investigation immediately commenced after the report was made. Inquiries were made with surrounding police departments and hospitals. Patrol officers were sent to canvas places frequented by Lescano. A digital bulletin was forwarded to area police departments containing a photo of Lescano and information pertinent to the investigation.
Lescano was entered as a missing person in the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC), a database accessible by law-enforcement agencies nationwide. A police department social media post was made to enlist the public in generating tips and leads. These steps turned up no leads.
Detectives requested the assistance of the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit. A sheriff’s bloodhound-tracking dog led detectives to the Passaic River in Kearny. Detectives then began searching the Passaic River by boat and at approximately 11:19 a.m., Feb. 15, detectives located the body of a deceased woman in the river near the Clay Street Bridge between East Newark and Newark.
The woman’s body was recovered with the assistance of the Newark police Emergency Service Unit and MONOC paramedics pronounced death.
On Monday, Feb. 18, the KPD received notification from the Northern Regional Medical Examiner’s Office that the woman recovered from the river was positively identified as Rosa Lescano.
As in all cases of this nature, the cause and manner of death are pending a full report by the medical examiner. Preliminarily, no foul play is suspected.
“The police department sends its deepest condolences to the family and friends of Ms. Lescano,” the KPD’s Facebook post said. “We regret that we were unable to provide this update sooner; however, we were compelled to await the official identification made by the medical examiner.”
The Observer will update this story as soon as further details become available.
Learn more about the writer ...
Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, a place where he has served on and off since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on Facebook Live, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to West Hudson to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.