Body found in Muskingum River ID’d as New Philadelphia man
Death believed to be accidental
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MARIETTA -- Marietta police have released the identity of a man whose body was found in the Harmar area of Marietta on Tuesday.
The body was found by a Marietta College crew team coach on the west bank of the Muskingum River off Gilman Avenue just south of the Washington Street Bridge between the bridge and the Marietta College Boathouse, Marietta Police Captain Ryan Huffman previously told the Times.
The man who was found is Jeffrey Keith, 51, of New Philadelphia, according to Huffman.
Huffman said Thursday Marietta police identified Huffman's body and notified his family, who are mainly from the Akron/Canton area.
Keith is not from Washington County and does not really have any ties here, but "he was reportedly in Washington County to visit an acquaintance," Huffman said.
Keith did come into contact with people in Washington County on April 16, which according to Huffman is the suspected date of his death.
"Another agency had some dealings with him on the 16th," Hufffman said, during an incident "where he'd lost the keys to his car."
He said the agency gave Keith a ride into town so he could make arrangements regarding his vehicle. Huffman declined to identify the agency.
"It appears through the investigation and things we saw on the scene that (Keith) had walked through the silt from the flood to the edge of the (Muskingum) river bank," Huffman said. "And we could see it appears he had slipped from the edge of the river bank."
He said at the time Keith fell in the river the Muskingum River would have still been fairly high from flooding.
The police assume that Keith's death was accidental, according to Huffman.
He said police think Keith was alone when he slipped into the river and they are "real comfortable with that assumption."
He said there was one set of footprints at the scene leading to where Keith went in the river and the police are "pretty certain there was only one person there at the time."
According to Huffman, the Marietta Police have no idea why Keith was walking along the river.
Keith's autopsy is still out and there is no official cause of death yet. He said that there
was some broken concrete in the area of where Keith's body was found so Keith could have possibly hit his head and went into the river, depending on where the water level was. He also said the flood water would have been swift at the time Keith fell in and the incline on the bank is so steep that it would have been nearly impossible for Keith to get back out of the river.
Michelle Dillon can be reached at mdillon@newsandsentinel.com