MAN FOUND IN PARK DIED OF HEAD INJURIES; POLICE STILL NOT DISCLOSING

Medical examiner on the scene in December

The man whose deceased body was found in the brook behind the main library in Memorial Park last December apparently died from a head injury, according to a family member.

Maplewood Police and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office have refused to reveal the cause of death since Lawrence Mancuso, 61, was found in the brook on the morning of Dec. 11, 2015, other than to say it was not suspicious.

Since he was found in the brook, some had speculated it was a suicide or other such unclear cause. But Mancuso’s sister, Mari Acken, told Maplewoodian.com that the Essex County Medical Examiner’s Office had told her other brother it was an accidental death apparently caused by head trauma.

“That is what the coroner had said, they suspect that is probably what happened, that he slipped and fell and hit his head,” She said Monday “The coroner had verified it, that it was not suspicious, that nobody had done anything to him, that it was an unfortunate accident. It was not a suicide.”

A former South Orange resident who lived most recently in Nutley, Mancuso was known as a member of Our Lady of Sorrows Church and the South Orange Elks Club. But Acken said she had last spoken to him before Thanksgiving and said he was not always in touch with the family.

“It was unusual that they found him there,” she said. “I knew we couldn’t get a hold of him, the next thing we heard, they had tracked down my brother. They had to bring him down to The Essex County Coroner and as far as they were concerned it was an accident and that he had hit his head. 

“My brother was kind of elusive, we stayed in contact,” she added. “I had left him a message on his phone before Thanksgiving and had not heard from him, but not to say anything was wrong.”

Police did not respond to requests for comment on Acken’s statement about the cause of death or why it was not revealed given that the body was found in a public park and, apparently, his death was not caused by anything unusual.

One could argue that there is a safety issue if he fell because of om safety hazard in the park. 

It is also contrary to a previous police decision back in 2012 when the department issued a press release on a suicide in a private home on Baker street, which included the cause of death and the victim’s name. We withheld the victim’s name in our report, but it was made public.