TRENTON - An autopsy by the Northern Regional Medical Examiner's office has determined that the body found inside a submerged car in the Monksville Reservoir as Cathy DeBono of Oakland, who had been missing since March 23, 2008.
Dr. Roger A. Mitchell, Jr. conducted the autopsy yesterday, but has not yet determined a cause of death, according to a statement from the state Department of Environmental Protection. Investigators said the body was badly decomposed.
The New Jersey State Park Police, under the Department of Environmental Protection, is working with the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office and Medical Examiner's Office in the investigation.
Members of the West Milford Police Department came across the vehicle, a 2004 Toyota Camry, while conducting training dives in an area near a boat ramp located off Greenwood Lake Turnpike (Passaic County Route 511.) They contacted State Park Police, who had the vehicle pulled from the reservoir.
The Camry has been confirmed as the vehicle of 49-year-old DeBono, who was driving the night she disappeared. Divers found the car on its roof in approximately 18 feet of water, about 30 yards from the Monksville Reservoir North boat ramp.