Bodies Found in Central Park Waters on Consecutive Days

Police do not believe the two cases are connected or criminal in nature

By Michael Garofalo

Just one day after a body was found in a Central Park reservoir, police announced today that a second corpse had been recovered from another body of water in the park.

“There’s no criminality right now to show that it’s anything more than a coincidence,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said at a press conference Wednesday morning in Central Park.

The first body was found by a park worker on Tuesday, May 9 around noon in the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir near 86th Street. The body was “undressed” and “badly decomposed,” Boyce said, and police have not yet identified the individual, who they believe was a white or Hispanic male in his 20s or 30s. Police believe the corpse had been in the reservoir for more than a month before it was recovered.

The second body was found roughly a mile and a half south of the reservoir, in the pond commonly referred to as Swan Lake, near East 59th Street. It was discovered early this morning, also by a park worker. Police believe the individual was a black male in his 30s and was wearing pants. Police have tentatively identified the man based on identification found in his pocket, but are awaiting confirmation and have not yet released his name. “It does not appear that this body has been in the water for any more than a week or two at the most,” Boyce said.

Boyce said that neither body showed evidence of trauma. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will perform autopsies on both cadavers.

The last time a body was recovered from a body of water in Central Park was 2015, according to Boyce. “It is unusual for this park,” he said.