Police Lights (Photo: Jason Rojas/Flickr)
The body of a Toms River man missing since early this month has been found in a car that was discovered by police submerged in a lake.
Toms River Police were contacted Oct. 7 to investigate a report of Wayne Kovacs, 55 of Toms River, as a missing person. The officers’ investigation revealed the last contact with Kovacs was at 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday Sept. 23. Toms River Police detectives were able to identify an area in Monmouth County where they believed Mr. Kovacs may be located, said police spokeswoman Jillian Messina.
When Detectives Tom Grosse and John Turner approached Silver Lake in Belmar, they noticed a small amount of oil in the lake and requested the NJ State Police Missing Persons Unit and NJ State Police Marine Unit to assist in searching the lake with their side-scanning sonar equipment for a vehicle.
On Thursday, Oct. 22, the vehicle was pulled from the lake after being found by the NJSP T.E.A.M.S. Unit (similar to a special operations team) from Silver Lake in Belmar with a body inside.
The victim has been preliminarily identified by detectives as Kovacs’ and is awaiting the medical examiners report for cause and manner of death.
“At this time there appears to be nothing suspicious, investigation is ongoing at this time,” Messina said.
