KEARNY — The body of a 51-year-old Lyndhurst man, a letter carrier with the Kearny Post Office who went missing mid-April, was pulled from the Passaic River, Kearny, on May 4 and was formally identified on May 14, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said in a statement to The Observer.
“The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Unit is confirming that the male found in the Passaic River in Kearny on May 4, 2018, has been positively identified as Vitorino Cirne, age 51, of Lyndhurst. The cause and manner of death are pending further medical studies; however, no foul play is suspected at this time,” Suarez said in a statement provided by HCPO Spokesman Raymond Worrall.
Several police agencies — including the Lyndhurst Police Department, the New Jersey State Police, the Nutley Police Department, the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, the Maywood Police Department, the Lyndhurst Fire Department and the Bergen County Regional SCUBA Task Force — conducted a massive search for Cirne, who had last been seen in his Lyndhurst home on April 12. ‘
It was that day officials said Cirne left home between 1:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m., never to be seen again.
Reports indicated Cirne seemed “off” the day prior at work.
Shortly after his reported disappearance, Cirne’s vehicle was recovered by the LPD on Riverside Avenue near Kingsland Avenue on the Passaic River side of the street.
While other news agencies reported the discovery of Cirne’s body last week based on information disseminated by other law-enforcement agencies, The Observer chose to wait for official word from the HCPO, the agency responsible for identifying the body since it was found in Hudson County.
Be sure to check back at www.theobserver.com for additional details to this story. As soon as a cause and manner of death is determined, and released by the HCPO, we will bring you those details.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served 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 social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, 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 Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.