Body pulled from New York river in ‘04 ID’d as Javier Reveron
Filed by Alicia Castelli April 8th, 2010 in Top Stories.
LORAIN — A body pulled from the East River in New York in 2004 has been identified as a former Lorain man who disappeared after flying to New York City on a one-way plane ticket.
Lorain police Lt. James Rohner said the family of Javier Reveron, who disappeared Jan. 13, 2004, at the age of 27, was notified Tuesday that DNA collected from the body matched their son, whose DNA had been submitted to a national missing persons database.
Reveron was positively identified by the medical examiner’s office in New York, Rohner said.
His father, Rigoberto Reveron, a former Lorain city councilman, said his family wasn’t up to commenting on the news Wednesday.
In a news release, Rohner said an unidentified body pulled from the East River in New York on May 3, 2004, was matched to Javier Reveron thanks to a grant and DNA testing. The body, when found, was badly decomposed, and no identification could be made from tattoos, fingerprints or facial characteristics, police said.
Biological samples taken from the body were used to make a DNA comparison to Reveron, Rohner said, adding that Lorain detectives and Reveron’s family never gave up investigating sightings and other leads in New York over the past six years. The problem was money.
“They get so many John and Jane Doe bodies in New York, they don’t have the resources or the funds to test each one and submit it to the missing persons database,” Rohner said. “(New York) received a grant last year and additional funding this year to do testing.”
Lorain police were notified of the identification Tuesday, Rohner said.
The investigation when Reveron disappeared revealed he purchased a one-way ticket to New York and landed at LaGuardia Airport the same day his family reported him missing. He’visited with his family and left for his Lakewood, N.Y., home in the early morning hours of Jan. 13, Rohner said.
It was reported at the time of his disappearance that Reveron suffered from bipolar disorder.
The question of what happened to him remains.
Benjamin Figura, director of identification for the Chief Medical Examiner in New York, didn’t return a call seeking comment.
“We don’t know how he died,”
Rohner said. “All I know is cause of death is undetermined … He voluntarily left. He didn’t touch any of his money or notify his employer. He wasn’t answering his phone that day. All of those things his family said were uncharacteristic.
“It’s just unfortunate the family had to go through all that uncertainty for so many years.”
Contact Alicia Castelli at 329-7144 or
acastelli@chroniclet.com.
its a shame that for lack of funds, family has to stay in that i wonder where he/she could be mode
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