Palisades Interstate Parkway police stopped the car in which Denian Alberto Melo, 21, was a passenger in Fort Lee Historic Park just after 8:30 a.m. Tuesday as part of a drug investigation, Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir S. Grewal said.
Melo suddenly fled on foot into the park woods, he said.
The other occupants were later released without charges, the prosecutor said.
Meanwhile, PIP police and officers from surrounding towns searched the woods for Melo, with no success, he said.
Just after 6 a.m. Wednesday, Melo's body was found on Henry Hudson Drive, at the foot of the cliffs, Grewal said.
"A final determination as to the cause of death will be made by the Bergen County Medical Examiner after an autopsy is completed," he said.
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