NORTH BERGEN — Two bodies found on Christmas Day in North Hudson Braddock Park were within a few hundred feet of each other, but law enforcement officials said the deaths appeared to be unrelated.
According to media reports on Christmas, the body of one man was seen by joggers floating in the lake at the park around 10:15 a.m. A prosecutor said the man appeared to be Latino and in his mid 30s.
The second man appeared to be Asian, in his 50s, and was found on the ground 200 yards away near the tennis courts with a “ligature” around his neck, attached to the deck of a trailer. The prosecutor told NJ.com the death appeared to be unrelated to the other, and was likely a suicide. A ligature is any type of cord, wire, bandage, or fabric used for tying or binding.
An urban myth has persisted for years that suicides rise around the winter holidays, but a Mayo Clinic study and others determined that this is untrue.