Body Found in Delaware Matches Summit Man's Description, State Police Say

A body recovered from the Delaware River Tuesday afternoon, just three days after 38-year-old Summit resident Gary West was reporting missing, has not yet been identified Wednesday afternoon. 

New Jersey State Police Sgt. Brian Polite confirmed the Hunterdon County Medical Examiners Office is conducting the examination and an ID will not be made until the examination is complete. However, Polite said the body recovered “matched the descriptors” of West that were given to investigators.

While Polite did not give a time frame for the examination, the New Jersey Herald reports that the autopsy is scheduled for Thursday.

Polite said a pedestrian walking by the river discovered the body on Tuesday afternoon, which was recovered by local fire department personnel. The body was spotted at 12:53 p.m. off 12th St. in Frenchtown Borough in Hunterdon County, according to a New Jersey Herald report.

West was reported missing around 1:40 p.m. Saturday when the tube he and his 14-year-old daughter were rafting on the Delaware River overturned near Knowlton Township. West's daughter managed to float to a Pennsylvania riverbank.  

West and his family were at the Delaware River Family Campground in Warren County before they went into the river with a group of others. West and his daughter became separated from the rest of the group in the river before overturning.  

It’s about 35 miles between Knowlton Township where West went missing and Frenchtown where a body was discovered, matching a description of West given to investigators.