Foul play not suspected in 2 deaths in Central Park waters

NEW YORK (AP) — The bodies of two men have been discovered over two days in Central Park, each floating in a lake, but investigators don’t believe either was the victim of a crime, police said Wednesday.

The first body, of a man thought to be in his 20s or 30s, was found Tuesday in the park’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, near Central Park West and 90th Street. It apparently had been there at least a month, said police Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce.

On Wednesday morning, a body of a man in his 30s, wearing pants and shoes but no shirt, and carrying identification, was found about 1 1/2 miles south of the reservoir in Swan Lake, a pond frequented by tourists near The Plaza hotel.

It had been there about one to two weeks, Boyce said. Investigators were working to confirm the ID.

The medical examiner will determine the causes of death; neither body had obvious signs of trauma.

“We don’t believe there’s criminality in either of these cases right now,” he said.

The rare occurrences — a body was last found in Central Park waters in 2015 — brought negative attention to a normally tranquil oasis in the heart of the city.

Swan Lake, at the southeast corner of the park, is surrounded by pink and white azaleas, Japanese maples and other lush vegetation and is populated with all manner of birds. After Boyce’s press conference, a white egret was seen perching on a log at the edge of the lake.

A day earlier, the police activity centered on a similarly picturesque area near Central Park West and 90th Street.

The reservoir is about a half-mile long and up to 40 feet deep. It’s surrounded by a 4-foot-high ornamental fence and a popular track — the Parks Department says Onassis, former President Bill Clinton and the singer Madonna had all run there.

Elderly man kills self; said he killed wife with Alzheimer’s

DELTONA, Fla. (AP) — A 75-year-old man fatally shot himself while deputies were visiting his house to conduct a welfare check on his wife, and he left behind a hand-written suicide note saying he had buried her in the backyard, authorities in Florida said Wednesday.

Laurence Caulfield admitted that he killed his wife in the note, and officials were searching the yard for her body, the Volusia County Sheriff’s department said in a news release.

Deputies visited the home in Deltona, northeast of Orlando, Tuesday night after an out-of-state relative reported receiving a letter from Caulfield that said he was having a difficult time coping physically and emotionally as his wife suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, the release said. The relative told detectives that she hadn’t spoken to the couple in months.

Caulfield included with the letter the couple’s will, life insurance policy and other financial documents, the sheriff’s department said.

“He also has guns in the house, and I’m concerned,” the caller told dispatchers, according to the sheriff’s office. “The way it’s been written is a concern, a strong concern.”

Deputies went to the house and spoke briefly with Caulfield, who told them his wife suffered from Alzheimer’s and he had moved her to Kansas City to stay with friends of the family.

When deputies asked how they could get in touch with her, he told them to call his daughter in New Jersey, who had the information, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

Caulfield went back inside the house while deputies called the daughter, who said she knew nothing about her mother moving to Kansas City. Deputies grew concerned and began knocking on the front door but no one answered, the sheriff’s office said.

Dakota Access pipeline leaked 84 gallons of oil in April

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The Dakota Access pipeline leaked 84 gallons of oil in South Dakota early last month, which an American Indian tribe says bolsters its argument that the pipeline jeopardizes its water supply and deserves further environmental review.

The April 4 spill was relatively small and was quickly cleaned up, and it didn’t threaten any waterways. The state’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources posted a report in its website’s searchable database, but it didn’t take any other steps to announce it to the public, despite an ongoing lawsuit by four Sioux tribes seeking to shut down the pipeline.

Brian Walsh, an environmental scientist with the agency, said Wednesday that the state doesn’t issue news releases on spills unless there is a threat to public health, a fishery or a drinking water system. He said there was no such threat with the Dakota Access leak, which happened nearly 100 miles east of the Missouri River’s Lake Oahe reservoir, which is the tribes’ water supply.

“We realize Dakota Access gets a lot of attention. We also try to treat all of our spills in a consistent manner,” Walsh said. “We treated this as we would treat any other 84-gallon oil spill.”

The leak occurred at a rural pump station in the northeast of the state as crews worked to get the four-state pipeline fully operational, Walsh said. The oil was contained on site by a plastic liner and containment walls and quickly cleaned up. Some oil-contaminated gravel will be disposed of at an area landfill, he said.

Such incidents have happened with other pipelines in South Dakota, and the Dakota Access leak didn’t come as a surprise, according to Walsh. The state is happy with the response of Texas-based pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners and won’t issue a fine, he said.

“Size-wise, an 84-gallon release is pretty small relative to a lot of other things we work on,” Walsh said. “I would characterize it as a small operational spill that was cleaned up right away.”