Body pulled from Pennsylvania river sparks homicide investigation

A man’s body was pulled from the Delaware River in Pennsylvania, triggering a homicide investigation, police said.

Police officers and the Philadelphia Marine Unit responded to the scene on Wednesday following a call from a group of people who were canoeing and kayaking just south of the island at Wy-Hit-Tuk Park in Williams, Lehigh Valley Live reported.

When they arrived on the scene around  3:30 p.m., authorities spotted a body in the water matching t he description of a man who was reported missing earlier this week.

He was pronounced dead on the scene.

While authorities did not name him, family identified the man as 42-year-old Darnell Dogan. He was last seen with friends on a boat late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, NBC Philadelphia reported. His family believes he “fell off the boat” and reported him missing the following day

“We got a family hurting here … that’s my baby, that’s my baby boy,” Juanita Johnson, Dogan’s mother, said.

“He was just down here fishing,” she told CBS. “That’s it. So I don’t understand it,”

Dogan’s body did not show any “obvious signs of trauma,” but Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said his death is being considered suspicious at this time.

“It doesn’t appear to be a normal drowning at this time,” Small said. “Now, this victim may have drowned. However, what we found on the body does appear to be suspicious.”

An investigation into the matter is ongoing.