There is an active investigation into the cause of death for a man who was reported missing and later found dead inside a Newark graveyard on Sunday.
Detectives from The Essex County Prosecutor's Office were called to the Rose Street side of Woodland Cemetery after police received a call from a passerby who observed the body of a male before 10 a.m.
According to a spokesperson for the prosecutor's office, the cause and manner of the man's death will be determined by the State Regional Medical Examiner's Office.
The family identified the man as Mr. Niger Scott, 40, of Newark who was reported missing to police after he vanished in late January.
RLS Metro Breaking News reported on Scott's disappearance on March 7th when family members say he was last observed wearing a black and red hat, blue jeans, a black jacket with a brown vest, and black boots in the vicinity of Grove Street and Clinton Avenue in Irvington Township.
Eerily, family members said Scott is the cousin of a man who was found floating in the Weequahic Park Lake in early March.
In that incident, authorities say search and rescue crews pulled the lifeless body of Mr. Antoine Bennette, 25, of Newark from the Weequahic Park Lake on Saturday, March 3rd.
Authorities said sheriff’s officers responded to the lake, with the assistance of the Newark Fire Department, and also removed the body of a female who they found floating.
Police have not been able to identify the woman.
On December 2, 2017, Bennette's family contacted RLS Metro Breaking News to inform that he mysteriously vanished from his Chancellor Avenue neighborhood without a trace. When Bennette did not return home for his December 26th birthday, his family became increasingly concerned as they consistently checked into our information space.
The Essex County Prosecutor's Office is handling all three incidents and has not confirmed if their deaths are related at this time.