Body of missing man recovered at E.B. lake

BY VINCENT TODARO
Staff Writer

Daniel Hoffman The body of a 34-year-old man who had been reported missing nearly a week earlier was found Monday morning in Farrington Lake.

East Brunswick police confirmed that the body of Daniel Hoffman, of Edison, was found by a fisherman who was out on the lake in a boat around 1 a.m.

Police Lt. William Krause said the fisherman immediately called North Brunswick police, who in turn notified East Brunswick, which had been searching for the missing man since he was last seen June 27.

Hoffman had been walking along the East Brunswick side of Farrington Lake that day with two friends, Christine Langone and Cheryl D'Alesandro, both of Edison, when he decided to go for a swim shortly after 3 p.m. The friends said they were not paying attention for a few minutes before they suddenly noticed he was no longer in sight.

After days of searching the lake with dive teams, police began to investigate the possibility that Hoffman may not have drowned, but instead left the lake without anyone seeing him. Hoffman's mother told police June 28 that it was likely he was alive and that he may have fled due to personal problems. She said she checked his residence and found that most of his personal property had been removed from his room.

Witnesses on the North Brunswick side of Farrington Lake at the time of the disappearance saw no activity on the East Brunswick side, police said, adding fuel to speculation that the man had purposely disappeared.

Still, police continued making periodic checks at the lake throughout last weekend.

On Monday, Krause said the body was found a "good distance south of the dam where the missing man was last seen." When the report came in, the East Brunswick Police Water Rescue Team responded and recovered the body from the lake. Hoffman's family was then notified that a body had been found, though it remained undetermined if it was that of the missing man.

"It's probably not a case where you could easily identify him," Krause said Monday. "I did not see the body, but I have to imagine there was a fair rate of decomposition, having been in the water for almost a week."

As for speculation why the body was not found earlier, Krause noted that it typically would take a while for a body to float to the surface. Cold water temperatures can keep the body submerged for longer periods.

"Water needs to be a certain temperature for a body to float back up," he said.

East Brunswick Police Lt. Robert Strempek confirmed yesterday that the body was that of Hoffman, saying he had been identified through characteristics such as tattoos, as opposed to use of dental records or fingerprints. Hoffman had a USMC tattoo as well as multiple skull tattoos.

The Middlesex County Medical Examiner's Office conducted an autopsy and determined that the cause of death was drowning, Strempek said.

Police were still awaiting the results of a toxicology review to determine whether any drugs or alcohol were in Hoffman's system, he said.

The body was released to Hoffman's family on Tuesday.