Terri Sanginiti and Esteban Parra

The News Journal

State police said there were no signs of foul play in the suspicious death of a man whose body was discovered Thursday morning on a walking path near the Fox Run Shopping Center.

The victim, described earlier as a teenager, has been positively identified as a 19-year-old man from Bear, Sgt. Paul Shavack said.

The victim's identity was not released.

The body was discovered about 7:53 a.m. by a passerby walking along the trail near a wooded area in the 200 block of Rickey Blvd., south of U.S. 40, said Sgt. Paul Shavack.

The passerby alerted authorities that the man was on the ground just outside the woods.

Troopers were able to access the victim's remains and turned them over to the state Division of Forensic Science for autopsy.

A preliminary investigation and examination of physical evidence at the scene does not suggest any suspicious circumstances, Shavack said.

Investigators returning from the scene could be seen coming from a wooded area walking over a slope.

The nearest home to where the body was found is about 50 yards away, with a series of trees between them. Across the street, there is a retaining pond.

Yellow and orange leaves littered the yards and sidewalks in front of the two-story ranch-style homes on Forest Glen Court. A state police SUV was parked on the street's cul-de-sac blocking the trail into the wooded area.

A man trying to walk into the wooded area was turned away.

The man, who did not want to be identified, said he walks the trail every day, adding it cuts his commute to the Fox Run Shopping Center by about 20 minutes. He added it's a safe walk and did not know about the body until police told him.

Residents on nearby Lexington Drive were unaware that a body had been found in the wooded area. Most residents interviewed were unaware of the trail.

"I've never seen any type of children or adults going through that area," said Drue Bailey, who has lived for eight years at one of the homes nearest the woods.

Bailey said there had been a playground near the area, but that was removed because it was attracting a lot of drug users, she said.

As a result, the area is watched closely by residents.

While she has not seen anyone from her development in those woods, Bailey said there is another development on the other side of the woods.

A Forest Glen woman called The News Journal to say that she drove by the trail about 6:50 a.m. while taking her kids to school and saw two people dressed in dark clothing – one of them a woman – walking out of the trail with a small child.

She said she thought to herself that it was unusual, because she never sees anyone on that trail, which she drives by about the same time every day.

"I've lived in Forest Glen for 15 years and I don't ever see people on it," she said. "If there was a body there, they would have had to have seen it."

Detectives are awaiting the release of autopsy results and continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death.

Anyone with information is asked to call (302) 834-2630, ext. 9 or use the state police Mobile Crime Tip App.

Tips also may be submitted anonymously through Delaware Crime Stoppers, which offers rewards, at (800) 847-3333 or online at www.tipsubmit.com

Contact Terri Sanginiti at (302) 324-2771 or tsanginiti@delawareonline.com

Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com



