Ask help identifying Liberty Park suicide victim

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Hudson County homicide detectives are seeking the public's help identifying a man found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in Liberty State Park Monday morning, authorities said yesterday.

A woman walking her dog at about 7 a.m. on Audrey Zapp Drive just west of the Liberty House Restaurant became concerned when she saw the body on the ground near pine trees that hide fuel storage tanks, said Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio.

Police discovered the man had a point-blank gunshot wound to the head and beneath him, clutched in his hand, was a .38 caliber Smith and Wesson handgun, DeFazio said.

The man is described as being from 30 to 45 years old, 6-foot-2 and 209 pounds, DeFazio said, adding that he is white with a clean-shaven head. He was wearing blue jeans with a black leather belt, a blue-and-white striped short-sleeved polo-type shirt, black socks and black sneakers, DeFazio said.

No identification was found on the man, and although there were a number of cars parked in the area, none has been connected to him, DeFazio said.

Anyone with information on the man's identity is asked to call the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office's Homicide Squad at (201) 915-1345.

MICHAELANGELO CONTE