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Authorities confirm body found in West Milford reservoir was missing Oakland woman

UPDATE: Authorities today confirmed CLIFFVIEW PILOT‘s Wednesday night report that the decomposed body found in a car at the bottom of a West Milford lake was that of a 49-year-old Oakland woman reported missing five years ago.

Photo Credit: Cliffview Pilot File Photo

They wouldn’t officially confirm the website’s report that  Cathy Ann DeBono’s death was considered a suicide.

“The body was found fully intact in the front seat,” a law enforcement source with knowledge of the incident told CLIFFVIEW PILOT within hours of the discovery on Wednesday. “The belief is that she just drove in.”

DeBono, who lived in town with her husband, Edward, and two children, was last seen in Oakland on Easter Sunday 2008, authorities at the time said. She’d left home at 9:30 p.m. March 23 in the white 2004 Toyota Camry discovered on Wednesday and was never heard from again.

“There is no reason for us to suspect foul play,” an Oakland police officer said following her disappearance.

A diving team on a training exercise found DeBono’s submerged car in 18 feet of water in the Monksville Reservoir around 3 o’clock Wednesday afternoon.

Initial unconfirmed reports were that the body was found in a large bag in the back seat, but CLIFFVIEW PILOT sources immediately refuted those stories.

 

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