HOBOKEN – Questions are still being asked after the mysterious death of 24 year-old Hoboken resident Matthew Genovese, whose body police recovered from the Hudson River on Tuesday, Jan. 26 around 1 p.m.
He went missing Saturday, Jan. 23, after leaving a local bar in the midst of a fierce blizzard.
Police Chief Kenneth Ferrante announced at a press conference on Tuesday, 23 hours after police officials learned of Genovese’s disappearance, that he was found dead just off Pier A near Hoboken.
He was wearing the same clothes as when he was last seen: a gray Fordham t-shirt with maroon text beneath a red/orange/grey flannel shirt and tan khaki pants with tan Timberland boots.
Earlier on Tuesday, police had said, “Matt was last seen leaving [the pub] between 10:30 and 11:30 p.m. on the night of Saturday, January 23 by three of his friends. He last stated that he was walking home – a brief, familiar ten minute walk up the street.”
The Hudson Prosecutor’s office has since taken over the investigation in hopes to answer a few questions: Why did Genovese apparently go east toward the Hudson River when he left McSwiggans Pub after telling friends he would head west toward his Garden Street home? Was he intoxicated at the time of his departure from the bar and could that have factored into his death? Did police recover his cell phone?
The results from the prosecutor’s office are still pending but Ferrante said there were no visible signs of foul play on his body.
The Hoboken Reporter posed an additional question to Ferrante: How did the eight cameras on the Hoboken waterfront factor into the investigation?
Ferrante told the Reporter in mid-January that the city recently installed cameras along the waterfront (near Pier A, Pier C and uptown), which he said were working at the time of Genovese’ plunge into the water. However, the cameras did not catch Genovese.
“The cameras were up and running as of the 14th but they did not catch Genovese,” Ferrante said Wednesday afternoon.
The investigation was instead sped up when Detectives Edwin Pantoja and Wilfredo Gomez found Genovese’ wallet and keys sticking out of the snow pile near Pier A around midnight on Monday.
When asked whether a repositioning of the cameras would have led to the body’s discovery sooner, Ferrante said, “You have eight cameras and 1.3 miles of waterfront so they can’t see everything. We definitely want to expand…I see a couple of extra spots they’d be good for on the waterfront and throughout the city as well but not every incident is preventable.”
Ferrante said he is in talks with the city to install another 15 to 20 cameras throughout Hoboken in 2016.
Related to reality stars
Meanwhile, reality TV star Caroline Manzo, of Real Housewives of NJ, asked for help in finding Genovese. She said he was related to her daughter Lauren’s husband Vito. – Steven Rodas