A body pulled from a New Jersey river late Wednesday afternoon has been identified as the 55-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter who disappeared more than a year ago while out on a walk, authorities say.
Prosecutors said the medical examiner's office was able to confirm the body as David Bird, an energy markets reporter who vanished in January 2014, using dental records.
His remains were pulled from a section of the Passaic River bordering Somerset and Morris counties about a mile from Hick's Tract Park, one of Bird's favorite walking spots. Two men canoeing in that part of the river came across a red jacket near branches Wednesday and notified police.
Bird's cause and manner of death remain under investigation.
Authorities had been looking for Bird since he went for a walk in the area Jan. 11, 2014. His wife called police when he didn't return to their Milllington home after two hours. Police searched the woods and waterways following Bird's disappearance, but were unable to find the man.
The discovery of Bird's body came the same day that his wife launched a website to help find her husband. The site advertised a $10,000 reward for information leading to Bird's discovery.
Bird had worked for the Associated Press and Trenton Times before joining the Wall Street Journal's staff.
He had received a liver transplant shortly before he disappeared, and authorities said at the time that he didn't take a cellphone or his medications with him when he left for the walk.
"David Bird was a longstanding and valued member of the Dow Jones newsroom, and we are deeply saddened to learn today of his death," Gerard Baker, editor in chief of The Wall Street Journal, said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends."
