A body found in a vehicle submerged in a pond at a gated community was identified as that of a man who had been missing for weeks, police said Wednesday.
Rice Masongo, 45, had been missing for 18 days, NJ Advance Media reported. The Ford Focus containing his body was found Saturday in a retention basin at the end of a cul-de-sac on the grounds of a gated community called the Four Seasons.
A neighbor alerted police at about 1:45 p.m. Saturday to an apparent car trunk and tire sticking out of the water, the Manalapan Township Police Department said. Police divers found the car, which was registered to Masongo, and the body. The front end of the car was submerged and the trunk was open.
A pair of boat shoes was in the trunk, CBS News reported. The car’s tires were muddy and the rear window was smashed.
The identification solved one mystery but opened up a host of others. No one saw or heard the vehicle entering the water, police said. Whatever had happened between April 8, when Masongo had last been seen, and April 26 when his body was discovered, was unknown. Police asked for the public’s help to fill in the gap, especially anyone who could provide surveillance video from within the Four Seasons.
“There is no indication that there is any danger to the public or that anyone other than Mr. Masongo was involved with the vehicle entering the retention basin,” the Manalapan Township Police Department said in a statement. “At this time, there are still no known witnesses to the vehicle entering the water, therefore a timeframe remains unknown.”
Masongo lived in Keyport, N.J., on the coast of Raritan Bay, and had also recently resided in Newark and East Orange, police said.
