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The report of "someone drowning or having drowned" in the river behind 271 Riverlawn Drive shortly before 7 p.m. Friday brought township police, firefighters and EMS, Chief Jack McNiff said.
McNiff confirmed that a body was recovered nearly two hours later.
The chief declined to provide further details, citing an investigation involving his department, detectives from the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office, forensics investigators from the Passaic County Sheriff's Office and the state Medical Examiner's Office.
Responders had been in the same area earlier in the week.
Shortly before 3 a.m., police got a call from someone who reported hearing a man screaming for help in the area of 451 Riverside Drive -- less than a half-mile from Friday night's discovery.
Wayne police were joined at the scene by township firefighters and EMS, as well as Little Falls and Fairfield police. A New Jersey State Police helicopter even checked the river from Route 80 to the end of Riverlawn Drive and found nothing.
Both Riverlawn and Riverside drives are residential dead-ended roads that nearly meet, separated by a short wooded strip of land, at the Passaic River's southernmost bend.
Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes was expected to issue some form of statement about the incident, although it wasn't clear when.
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