Medical examiner working to i.d. woman found in Winooski River in Middlesex

June 22, 2020  |  By Lisa Scagliotti

UPDATE: This story has been updated with the location of the discovery and the gender of the deceased.

Vermont State Police say the body discovered in the Winooski River in Middlesex on Friday was a woman and that the ongoing investigation to identify her could last days or even weeks. 

That update to Waterbury Roundabout came this afternoon after an earlier news release in the case that said that the state medical examiner’s office needs more information to help identify the remains.

At approximately 6:30 p.m. on Friday, June 19, two individuals notified state police saying they believed they observed a dead body in the Winooski River in Middlesex. When police arrived on the scene, they decided to wait to recover the remains until Saturday morning because the body was in a difficult location to reach, police said. 

State police spokesman Adam Silverman on Monday afternoon in confirming that the deceased was a woman added that the spot where the body was found was in the river near 31 Welch Park Drive in Middlesex.

Troopers stayed at the site overnight Friday, and on Saturday members from the State Police Scuba Team along with a detective from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and an assistant medical examiner arrived to remove and examine the body. An autopsy was scheduled for Sunday, police said.

Silverman Monday issued an update saying that the state Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington was seeking dental records and needed to conduct further testing in order to attempt to identify the deceased individual.  

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Vermont State Police in Middlesex at 229-9191.