Police: Unclear how long man’s body was in Great Miami River

It’s not clear how long the body of a man found in the Great Miami River near Monument Avenue late Tuesday morning had been in the water or where he came from, Dayton police said.

The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office will perform an autopsy to determine how and when the man died, as well as identify him, said Dayton police Lt. Matt Beavers.

The police department is checking its records of missing persons and reaching out to other agencies in the area and north of Dayton to see whether the man meets the description of anyone reported as missing.

The man appears to be in his 30s, but police declined to describe him further.

“Without doing the autopsy, finding out who the gentleman is and getting a timeline of when he was last seen, we’re not going to know how long he’s been in the water for awhile.” Beavers said.

With snow and heavy rains earlier this year, the man could’ve entered the water north of the Dayton region and carried down the river. Investigators were unable to determine if there were signs of foul play when they recovered the man’s body.

“We don’t know what caused this,” Beavers said. “We don’t any circumstances behind this incident other than that we found a body.”

With spring rains moving into the region and more people out on the water as the weather warms, Beavers reminded people to bring a friend and use caution when getting into the water.

“Always make sure someone knows where you’re at so that if something bad or unfortunate happens help can get there right away,” he said.

Dayton police are leading the investigation. We will continue to update this story as information is released.

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