Local News

Police identifty woman who's torso was found in the Niagara River

9/7/2012

Police on both sides of the border have confirmed the torso found in the Niagara River, near the base of Niagara Falls, is that of missing Niagara Falls, New York woman Loretta Jo Gates.

Niagara Regional police have also confirmed that more body parts were found in the lower Niagara River, including a leg and a partial arm.  The body parts were found by a fisherman and, with the assistance of the Whirlpool Jet Boats, officials were able to recover the limbs.

Police will not confirm if the leg and arm belong to the victim until tests are done.

Gates went missing on August 25th.  Her family came forward earlier this week to supply DNA samples to determine if the body part was that of the 30-year-old mother of three. 

New York State Police Captain Steven Negrelli would only confirm the identity of the victim and that she had been murdered. 

"This is being classified as a homicide.  The investigation, now that her identity is known, is just really in the infancy stage."

He adds teams of investigators are combing the streets to follow up on leads that have already come in.

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