Updated 11:00 a.m. April 15, 2015, with statements from the man who discovered the body.
A hiker walking his dog found the remains of a woman in South Mountain Reservation around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday evening, April 14.
Essex County Prosecutor’s Office spokeswoman Katherine Carter emailed media on Tuesday evening reporting that the County’s Major Crimes and Homicide Task Force were investigating the scene. She said that the woman has not yet been identified.
Ken Siegel, the Maplewood man who made the discovery, posted on The Village Green’s Facebook page that “it took 3 hours from the time I found the body until they took my videotaped statement and let me leave. This woman had been dead for awhile.” He said that he discovered the body “about 150 yards off Bear Lane in the woods past the dog park.” He added that the body had been “thrown in the hole of a large uprooted tree.”
The Reservation spans Millburn, Maplewood and West Orange.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
