By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, April 12, 1992
The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | A03
Members of John Howe’s family thought he had died in a train accident Thursday night. On Friday, they found out he hadn’t.
His boss, his brother, and his parents on Friday identified a body taken to the Rockland County, N.Y., morgue as that of Howe, Suffern Village Police Chief Leo Costa said Saturday.
“Each one positively said that it was him,” Costa said. “No doubt about it.”
But then Howe, 22, was later spotted walking along a Spring Valley, N.Y., street with his girlfriend.
The body in the morgue was subsequently identified as that of Charles Horton, 24, of Wayne Avenue, Suffern. He was struck and killed near Suffern by an NJ Transit train Thursday night. Police said no identification was found on the body.
Dr. Frederick Zugibe, Rockland County chief medical examiner, said Saturday that Howe’s mother, father, and brother came to the morgue in Pomona five hours after the body was discovered and identified it as Howe’s. They were called shortly after Howe’s boss was summoned to the morgue and made the initial identification.
In a followup investigation to determine Howe’s whereabouts before the accident, police tracked down his girlfriend and found the two in Spring Valley.
Police did not identify Howe’s relatives, boss, or girlfriend.
Costa said the two men bore a strong facial resemblance. Authorities were able to identify Horton through his fingerprints.
A woman described by Costa as Horton’s common-law wife had called police to ask if they knew where he was.
ID: 17374130 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)
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