Trending
WHEELING -- Police continue to investigate after a body was discovered late Sunday afternoon along the Ohio River at the southern tip of Wheeling Island.
A fisherman reported seeing the body at about 4:50 p.m. Sunday. Police responded, and members of the Wheeling Fire Department also came to the scene.
Assistant Fire Chief Paul Harto said the body was found over a tree branch in a decomposing state, and he described the body also as being "muddy."
"It has been in water for a while," Harto said.
The body was placed on a boat and transported by river to nearby Wheeling Island Marina, where it was taken by van to the West Virginia Medical Examiner's Office in Charleston for positive identification, according to Harto.
Officials at the scene did not reveal whether the deceased was male or female, nor did they give an approximate age.
There are presently no missing persons reports in Ohio County, according to Philip Stahl, public information officer for the Wheeling Police Department. The case will remain open, and detectives will be looking into possible missing persons cases elsewhere, he said.