NEW BALTIMORE — The body of a 55-year-old man was discovered Sunday by hikers on the Hannacroix Preserve, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s weekly report released Tuesday.
The Greene County Sheriff’s Office investigated and ruled out foul play. Capt. Tracey Quinn said the Sheriff’s Office’s investigation has been completed and the finding is that the man’s death was not suspicious.
The body was turned over to Greene County Coroner Gerald Buckley for further examination.
Buckley said Tuesday that the preliminary cause of death is suicide and the man’s body was transferred to Ellis Hospital, where an autopsy was performed by Dr. Bernard Ng, a forensic pathologist affiliated with Ellis Hospital.
Quinn said the man’s family has been notified, but the Sheriff’s Office is not releasing his name “out of respect for the family.” Buckley said the man’s family is in North Carolina and that he has no family in the immediate area.
The man was discovered face down in the Hannacroix Creek at about 6 p.m., according to the DEC. The hikers called 911 and the Greene County Sheriff’s Office assisted DEC forest rangers and the New Baltimore Volunteer Fire Department with recovering the body from the creek bed.
Sheriff’s Office and fire department personnel with DEC forest rangers placed the body in a utility terrain vehicle and drove about three-quarters of a mile to the Hannacroix trailhead.
“We had to use UTV’s because the scene was in a heavily wooded area that was not accessible by larger vehicles,” Quinn said.
Buckley said authorities are continuing their investigation to determine where he was and what he was doing before his body was discovered on the Hannacroix Preserve on Sunday.